When Tommy Met Felicity
by yet-i-remain-quiet
Summary: What if Tommy hadn't died. What if he had met Felicity and they became friends. AU from 1x15 on. Throw in a little jealous Oliver. Eventually will be Olicity.
1. Chapter 1

The sound of the basement door slamming and echoing through the silent club, caused Tommy to jump in surprise. He had been positive that he was the only person in the club. It was too late for the construction workers to still be in and it was rare for Oliver to make an appearance, which was ironic, considering the club belonged to him.

He walked towards the door, curious to see who else could be in the club, and why they would be using the unfinished basement, he hadn't even gone down there yet. Oliver had told him that the basement would eventually be used as storage, however, because the club wasn't open yet, they had no use of it. Oliver had also said it wasn't the safest area, still under construction.

A tiny, blonde woman, one that he had never seen before, was leaning heavily against the door. She seemed very out of place in the club, with her sweater, hair pulled into a low ponytail, and thick framed glasses perched on her nose. She seemed more like someone that would be found in a library or a book club, than a night club. She was beautiful in an understated way, like you might not notice at first, but the longer you looked, it became more obvious. She seemed frustrated, her cheeks were flushed, her eyes were squeezed tightly shut, and she was muttering to herself.

"Stupid… Thinks he can just… Ugh… What was I thinking… Stupid," she was lost in her angry babbles, most of which Tommy was unable to make out.

"Excuse me," Tommy called softly, not wanting to startle her.

The girl jumped, she looked at him with wide blue eyes that were hidden behind the thick frames of her glasses.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Oh… Frack," she breathed, if possible her eyes seemed to widen more.

Tommy smiled, there was something special about this mysterious blonde woman.

"I'm… I was just… The internet," she blurted, her cheeks flushed red. "I mean, I'm no one. I'm just setting your router up. Yep. That's it. And it's, uh, all finished."

"Oh," Tommy replied, he narrowed his eyes. "I thought we already had wifi."

"Of course," she muttered. "It was down. Oli- I mean, Mr Queen called me, he said it wasn't working. So, I came by to fix it. Which I did. All good to go now."

Tommy nodded slowly, not entirely believing her story, but he decided to let it slide. "Well, thank you. How do you know Oliver, Mr Queen? You don't, and don't take this the wrong way, but you don't look like the usual tech geek."

The girl straightened her spine and her eyes narrowed, she glared fiercely at Tommy, a frown on her face, she took a few steps towards him pointing her finger at his face. " 'Tech Geek', I'll have you know I went to MIT, graduated at 19 with Master degrees in Computer Sciences and Cyber Security. So maybe you can explain to me what exactly a 'Tech Geek' looks like? All you billionaires are all the same."

Tommy opened and closed his mouth a few times, shocked and unsure how to respond, feeling thoroughly reprimanded. "Sorry," he finally stuttered. "Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you. And thank you, really. For fixing the internet. Can't really survive without it these days."

"Not a problem," she took a step back, straightening her red sweater, she smiled shakily.

"But, how do you know Oliver?" Tommy asked again, still curious.

"I work at Queen Consolidated," the woman supplied. "In the IT Department, Mr Queen had come to me with computer issues, so when he was having problems here, he asked for me to help."

"Hmm," Tommy nodded.

"So…" she trailed off awkwardly. She looked over her shoulder, eyeing the basement door.

"Are you all right?" he asked cautiously. "Earlier, before I insulted you, you seemed upset about something."

Her eyes widened and her lips formed an 'o' shape. "It's nothing," she brushed it off. "Just a guy, being… A guy, a very stubborn, stupid guy. But it's fine. He's just… I'm done, totally over it, so…"

Tommy nodded, a light laugh escaped his lips, it was obvious to him that she was anything but 'over it'. "Well, I apologize, on behalf of all 'guys being guys'. We can be stupid, and sometimes we need a beautiful woman to remind us of that," he said charmingly.

The girl tilted her head and eyed him carefully. She was silent, just watching him, her eyes moving over his face. Tommy shifted, slightly uncomfortable under her gaze. There was something about the way she was looking at him, something that made him feel like she could see right through him, see past the charm and bravado. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

She shook her head, breaking her gaze and looking down at the floor. "I'm just… I'm going to go now," she mumbled.

"Of course," Tommy tried to smile with his usual charm, but it felt false on his face. "Well, thanks again… What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't," she replied.

"Right," Tommy took a step towards her, and held his hand out. "Tommy Merlyn."

"I know who you are," she said. "You're the manager here. And Oli — Mr Queen's best friend. Son to Merlyn Global CEO, Malcolm Merlyn."

Tommy bit his lip, holding back a laugh at the blonde's endearing babbles. "Right, and you are," he prompted.

"Oh. Felicity. Smoak," she filled in shaking his hand firmly.

"It's nice to meet you," Tommy said lightly.

Felicity nodded, a shy smile on her face. She looked towards the door. "I'm going to go now," she said and walked briskly towards the door.

"Felicity," Tommy echoed quietly as he watched her ponytail disappear through the door. He stared at the door for a few moments, thinking of Felicity. There was something about her, something different. The way she seemed to see right through his charm, he had never really met anyone able to do that. Laurel, but that was mostly because she had known him for so long. But Felicity, she had only spoken to him for a few seconds and was able to see right through him. It surprised him, intrigued him. And as he walked up the stairs to the offices, he couldn't help but hope that he would see her again.


	2. Chapter 2

Tommy was sitting on the one of the stools by the bar in Verdant, the club was having its grand opening in a few hours. There was a list of things that still needed to be completed before that time, however Tommy found himself lost in his thoughts, staring at the bottle of whiskey in front of him. His mind was a tangle of dark thoughts, all stemming from the same person.

Oliver.

Oliver. His best friend was the vigilante. His best friend was a murderer. He was dressing up in a hood and killing people, with arrows. Who even uses arrows, he thought bitterly, they looked ridiculous.

He couldn't wrap his mind around it. It didn't make any sense.

It didn't seem possible that the same person who had helped him get his first date, who had stood by his side after his mother was killed, the best friend that he had lost but miraculously got back, the person he had thought that he knew better than anyone, could also be a murderer.

Even though, Oliver had helped him save his father's life, he had also killed so many other people. They might not have been good people, corrupt and dishonest people, but who was Oliver to decide whether they should live or die.

"I thought I might find you here."

A soft voice broke broke him out of his thoughts. He looked around to find the source, he spotted her standing a few feet away. It took him a second to recognize the small, blonde who was watching him with sympathetic eyes.

"Felicity Smoak," he greeted. A dry laugh escaped his lips when he pieced together the reason she could be in the club only hours before it was supposed to open. "You never were fixing our wifi were you."

She shook her head sadly. "No," she confirmed. "It was the only thing I could think of on the spot. Sorry."

"How long?"

"Officially? Since his mother was attacked," she supplied. "She shot him, I found him in the backseat of my car."

"That's right," Tommy recalled. "Attacked his own mother. I'll add that to the list, right next to liar and murderer. And unofficially?"

"A few months before that," she answered, taking a seat next to him at the bar. "He brought me a laptop, riddled with bullet holes, and asked me to get information off of it. Fed me some lies about how it was his, which it wasn't, and how he had spilt a latte on it. I told called him out, said it looked like bullet holes and he came back with saying that his coffee shop was in a bad neighbourhood."

"And you believed him?" Tommy asked sarcastically. "I would have thought that a MIT graduate would be smarter than that."

"Ouch," she retorted, a mock look of hurt on her face. "You're upset and drinking, so I'm going to let that one slide. Don't take your anger out on me."

Tommy looked down, feeling guilty. Felicity wasn't the one that he was angry with and taking his anger out on her, wasn't fair.

"And to answer your question, no, I didn't believe him."

Tommy looked up, a look of confusion on his face. "So, you knew he was lying, but you still helped him?" he inquired. "Why?"

Felicity shook her head. "If we're going to have this conversation, I'm going to need a drink."

Tommy considered refusing, not wanting to talk about his former best friend and the illegal things that he did at night. But as he watched the woman next to him, his curiosity grew, he wanted to know what made her trust Oliver. Though his knowledge of her was limited to their brief interaction a few weeks earlier, he had the feeling that she was an excellent judge of character. And if she was able to trust Oliver, to find something redeemable in his actions, than maybe, just maybe he could too.

Making his decision, he jumped up from his seat, a little unsteady on his feet due to the whiskey he had been drinking, he made his way around the bar.

"What's your poison?" he asked, gesturing to the many options that Verdant had been stocked with.

"Hmm… Do you have any good reds?" Felicity asked, leaning forward to look at the choices.

"Of course," Tommy scoffed. "We have an excellent '84." He grabbed a glass, poured her a generous amount, and slid it over to her.

She swirled her glass before taking a sip, savouring the taste for a moment before swallowing. "That is good," she complimented. "Okay, where do you want to start?"

"You said that he brought you a laptop, and you knew that he was lying. So, why did you help him?" he pressed.

"At first, I honestly thought that it was his computer, I mean, he didn't explain the bullet holes," she explained. "But he's Oliver Queen, I couldn't exactly question the guy who's name is on the building where I work."

"When did you realize he was lying?" Tommy asked. "Other than about the bullet holes."

"I was going through the information on the hard drive with him, and there were plans for a building that QC was trying to buy, but the plans were registered to the opposing company that was trying to buy the building," she recounted. "He played dumb, like he had no idea, that it wasn't his computer."

"That sounds like Ollie," he muttered. "He used to do that when Laurel caught him in a lie, play dumb."

"I didn't really think I've ever see him again," Felicity continued.

"But you obviously did," Tommy interrupted.

"Yeah, a few weeks later, he was back. Said that he wanted to reconnect with an old friend, and wanted me to track them down. But he had no idea that they guy used to work for his father, in this building, actually, when it was still a steel factory," Felicity acknowledged, looking around.

"Another lie," Tommy muttered, he shook his head. "And you still helped him, I really don't understand why."

"I did," Felicity admitted, she looked down, her cheeks flushed red and fiddled with the stem of her wine glass. "He was charming, and nice to me."

"Oh," Tommy nodded in understanding. "The old Ollie Charm. Don't feel bad, he's snared quite a few innocent girls that way."

Felicity glared at him. "It wasn't like that," she denied. "Well, maybe a little, but there was something about him. Something that, despite the lies, made me trust him."

Tommy looked away, thinking for a minute. He could understand that feeling, he had had it when he had met Felicity. But he couldn't find the same feeling for Oliver. "So what was it," Tommy repeated. Despite his anger and feelings of betrayal towards his friend, there was a part of him that wanted to understand. He had just got Oliver back, he didn't want to lose him again.

"Look," Felicity said, she rested her hand on top of Tommy's. "Maybe it's easier for me. I didn't know him before, before the island. All I've seen is this version of him. I don't have anything to compare it to."

"Ollie 2.0," Tommy muttered sarcastically.

"It was obvious to me that he was going out of his way to make up the lies he was telling me, no matter how terrible they were. Clearly, whatever he was hiding, it was important enough that he didn't want me to know," Felicity tried to explain. "Maybe it was to protect me, if I got caught, I could say I had no idea. Because I'm not stupid, I watched the news. The black arrow he brought me, just before they realized there was a second archer. A security fob with plans to break into an armoured vehicle. I almost went to the police that time."

"What stopped you?" Tommy cut in.

"I'm not sure," Felicity admitted. "He told me not to, said that he'd take care of it."

"And you believed him?" Tommy refilled Felicity's glass and poured himself a glass of water.

"I think that was the point that I knew," Felicity said thoughtfully. "I saw on the news that the Hood had been there. And I think some part of me knew."

"But you didn't confront him," Tommy stated.

"I wasn't ready to believe it. I mean, Oliver Queen, the vigilante? Who would believe me? Not to mention he had already been arrested and acquitted for it," Felicity shrugged. "And then all the stuff with Walter happened."

Tommy sighed, in his anger he had forgotten about Walter's disappearance. "You knew him?" he asked.

Felicity nodded. "Yeah, he had asked me to look into some things for him. And he was nice to me," she said softly. She looked down, a sad expression on her face.

"Nice to you," Tommy echoed. "You said the same thing about Oliver too. What did you mean by that?"

Felicity sighed. "I'm an IT nerd," she stated. "Most people, come to me with silly, little problems, they got a virus from visiting too many porn websites, or they can't figure out how to put an attachment with their emails. I don't hear a lot of thank yous. Most are shocked when they see that I'm a female. A few have even sent me back, wanting a male to help them, they believe there's no way that a girl could know a thing about computers."

Tommy felt anger for Felicity building inside him. Angry that someone could be so rude and treat her so terribly. Even in the short time he had known her, he couldn't imagine ever treating her badly.

"But it wasn't like that with Walter or Oliver. With them, I could tell that they appreciated what I was doing," Felicity explained. "It was nice."

"So, how did you officially start working for Oliver?" Tommy asked, trying to get back on topic.

"It was late one night, around Christmas," Felicity remembered. "I had been working late, and was heading home. I got into my car and heard something in the back, I turned around and there was Oliver. Or the vigilante. He told me he wouldn't hurt me, I asked how he knew my name, he said it was because I knew his, and he took his hood off. It was Oliver. And suddenly everything made sense, the lies and stories all fell into place. And he was bleeding, all over the seat of my car by the way, it's still stained hasn't come out all the way. Hopefully they won't notice when my lease is up."

Tommy cleared his throat, a smile on his face as he listened to her babble and lose her train of thought.

"Right, sorry, I do that," she apologized. "Anyway, he told me to bring him here, I wanted to bring him to the hospital, but he said no. He told me how to get in and said that his bodyguard would be here."

"Diggle is part of this too?" Tommy shook his head. "That shouldn't surprise me."

"Yeah, he brought Oliver inside and saved him," Felicity finished.

"Was it bad?" Tommy asked fearfully.

Felicity looked at him solemnly, she nodded her head. "Digg said that the bullet had nicked his carotid. He flatlined once, we had to shock him. And the machine wasn't working, I fixed it no problem, wires are wires, but it was scary."

"And then what, you just joined the team?" he asked.

"Sort of," Felicity replied. "I mean, I said that I want to help find Walter and then I'd be done. Back to my life as a boring IT girl, but…"

"But what?" Tommy pressed.

"I don't know," Felicity shook her head. "I think that Oliver could do some real good in this city. He doesn't have to kill, that's not what I signed up for. But seeing what he can do, he could be exactly what the city needs."

Tommy looked away, he gritted his teeth. "I don't know. The last this city needs is another murderer."

"I don't think he has to kill," Felicity excused. "I think he just needs someone to remind him of that. Someone to show him that he can save the city and still be… human."

"And that's going to be you?" Tommy asked skeptically.

"Maybe," she shrugged. "All I know, is that whatever is going on, it's much bigger than we all think. And we need to be ready for it."

Tommy didn't respond, he stared at the bar, considering what Felicity was saying.

She sighed and drank the last sip of her wine. "Look, you're upset that he kept this from you and the fact that you feel like you don't know who he is anymore, I get it. But I think he did it to keep you safe."

"That's what he said," Tommy admitted. "He was here earlier and he said that he kept it a secret to keep the people he cares about safe. But it doesn't change the fact that he's killed people, I saw him. When he first got back we got kidnapped and he killed them with his bare hands. The person I grew up with, the person that was my best friend, he never would have done that."

Felicity nodded and stood up. "I understand that, but I also don't know what Oliver went through when he was on the island. But I have seen the scars, I know it changed him. And I think you need to keep that in mind."

"What?" Tommy asked.

"You can't expect him to be the same Oliver that you used to know," Felicity said. "Yes, you got him back physically, but mentally, whatever he went through, he's not the same person. And to expect him to be, that's not fair. And what he's doing, though I don't agree with his methods, he really is trying to fix the city."

Tommy remained seated at the bar, his mind spinning.

"And believe me, it took me time to process who Oliver was too," she said with a laugh. "I processed my way through a pint of mint chip ice cream."

Tommy looked up at her in confusion.

"I stress eat," she said as way of an explanation.

Tommy chuckled softly.

"Phone," she instructed.

He looked at her. She was standing next to him, her hand outstretched and waiting.

"Give me your phone," she repeated.

Though still confused, he took his phone out of his pocket and placed it in her hand.

"I'm putting my number in here," she explained. "Call me, if you ever need to talk, about anything." She handed the phone back to Tommy and started walking towards the front exit.

He nodded, unsure of what to say. She had given him a lot to think about. Even if he still didn't completely understand, having another person's perspective helped.

"And Tommy," she called to him. He looked up. "Think about what I said. I'm not saying that you have to forgive him or start helping with his crusade, just think about it. I think you've been friends for too long to just throw it all away."

"I just have one more question," he said. "Did Oliver ask you to talk to me?"

Felicity looked confused. "No," she replied. "He doesn't even know that I'm here. I don't think he even knows that we know each other." She shrugged, raising her hand in a small wave and walked out.

Tommy rubbed a hand over his face. Felicity had given him a lot to think about. He shook his head, smiling as he thought of the tiny, blonde woman, she was an interesting person. Not many people would go out of their way to try and help with a situation that was as difficult as the one that he was in. Especially considering they barely knew each other.

He stood up, still processing everything, and looked at the time. His decision about Oliver would have to wait, the club was scheduled to open in less than an hour. He moved to the other side of the bar, washing out Felicity's glass. Her words echoed in his mind as he got ready for the club's opening night.

"Except, if you're alone, you're never gonna be happy," Tommy said, his tone filled with sadness.

Oliver looked at him, he recognized a look of devastation, but it was replaced with a sad look of acceptance. "Maybe not," Oliver agreed. "But, me being happy isn't what's important right now."

Tommy looked at his friend, an overwhelming feeling of sadness came over him. He wondered briefly, what had happened to Oliver, what was happening to him still, that could make him believe that his happiness wasn't important.

The two friends were sitting at the bar in Verdant. Tommy had heard about McKenna's accident and had come to check on Oliver. He had decided to take Felicity's advice and give Oliver a chance to explain the motives behind his crusade. His change of heart also came after Helena had attacked him and he had had to lie to Laurel, the whole ordeal had given him insight to Oliver's decision to keep his secret from the ones he's cares about.

"You said," Tommy said quietly. "That you would explain everything."

Oliver nodded. "If you want, I can do that," he said, a look of hope on his face.

"I want to," Tommy said. "I just need some time. Maybe in a couple days, you could tell me what happened."

"Okay. Thank you, Tommy," Oliver said quietly. "For giving me a chance."

"I had help," Tommy admitted. "Someone helped me see that you might your reasons and after everything you've been through, it's not fair for me to expect you to be the Ollie that I remember."

Oliver looked confused and a little worried. "You talked to someone, who?"

"Don't worry, buddy, your secret it still safe," Tommy assured him. "It was Felicity, actually, your IT girl. She found me here the other night and talked me off the ledge, so to speak. She's pretty special."

"Yeah, she is," Oliver agreed softly.

Tommy observed his friend for a moment. There was a small smile on his face and a faraway look in his eyes. It was a look that Tommy had never seen on Oliver, but he recognized it. A wistful, hopeful look. A look he used to see on his mother's face when she talked about his father. Clearly, Tommy wasn't the only one Felicity had an effect on. Maybe she was right about Oliver needing her to remind him of his humanity.

"What changed your mind?" Tommy asked Oliver, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"About what?" Oliver asked.

"About the Crazy Teen Mobile Girl, Helena. What changed your mind about going after her?" Tommy clarified.

"She attacked someone innocent, she went too far," Oliver replied, a dark, threatening look took over the expression of hope he had worn only moments before.

"Yeah, me," Tommy said, holding up his bandaged wrist.

"Well, yeah," Oliver agreed, he frowned. "But she went after Felicity, too."

"What?" Tommy yelped in alarm. "Is she okay? Was she hurt? What happened?"

"She's okay," Oliver confirmed. "A little shaken up, but she's okay."

"What happened?" Tommy repeated.

"After she hurt you, I agreed to help her find her father," Oliver explained. "But it was a trap, she got caught by the police. I got her out, tried to convince her to leave town, but she wouldn't. She needed someone who could hack into the FBI, to find the safe house where they were keeping her father."

"Felicity?" Tommy asked in awe. "She can do that?"

Oliver nodded, a proud grin on his face. "She can do a lot more than that. But, yeah, that's where Felicity came in. Helena found her at QC and forced her to hack into the records."

"Forced her how?" Tommy asked nervously, fearing for his new friend. His wrist throbbed slightly as he recalled the way the woman had used him to get Oliver's help.

"She used her crossbow, she didn't hurt Felicity, but it was enough," Oliver revealed. "Tied her up when she was finished and left her on the floor of her office."

Tommy frowned, filled with concern for the blonde. Even though he had just met her, he felt the need to protect her.

"She called me," Oliver said, his tone filled with guilt. "I didn't answer, I was with McKenna. But I got the message later, I heard Helena in the background before it cut off. I got there as soon as I could."

"But she's all right?" Tommy asked again, still worried.

Oliver nodded. "She apologized. For giving Helena the information she wanted."

Tommy chuckled dryly. Somehow, that didn't surprise him, Felicity seemed like the type of person that would shoulder blame and feel guilt when it wasn't her fault. A lot like Oliver, he realized, wondering briefly if that was partly what had drawn them together.

"I should head out," Tommy said moving to leave.

Oliver nodded, he stood up and pulled his friend into a hug. "Thanks again, for trusting me. Even if it's only because Felicity told you to."

Tommy laughed. "I have a feeling that is going to become a pattern with that girl."

"You're probably right," Oliver agreed.

As Tommy left the building, he pulled his phone from his pocket. He scrolled through the contracts, clicking on the one he needed. He held the device to his ear, listening to the ringing.

"Hello?" the other voice answered.

"Is your offer to talk still open?" he asked instead of returning the greeting. "I could use a little help processing my way through a couple pints of ice cream."

"Tommy?"

"The one and only," he drawled. "So, ice cream? I've got pints of mint chip with our names written all over them."

"Yeah," she said with a sigh. "I could use some ice cream."

"I was hoping you would say that. And you know, Felicity," Tommy said. "The whole talking thing, it goes both ways, I'm here if you need to talk."

Felicity was quiet on the other end of the line for a moment. "That would be nice," she said softly. "I had a rough day."

"I heard," Tommy admitted. "Oliver told me. But, I've heard that ice cream can fix anything."

"It does work wonders," Felicity agreed.

"Is it okay if we have this processing/ ice cream party at your place?" Tommy asked awkwardly. "It's just, I've been staying with Laurel, and she…"

"She doesn't know," Felicity finished his sentence. "Sure, as long as you bring the ice cream."

"I'm on my way," Tommy promised. "Text me your address."

"Sure, see you soon?" Felicity asked.

"Definitely," Tommy said, hanging up as he climbed into his car. He drove to the nearest store, grabbing two pints of the promised mint chip before heading to visit the woman that was well on her way to becoming his new favourite blonde.  



	3. Chapter 3

"Close your eyes Tommy," Felicity instructed. She stood in front of him with her arms crossed and a serious expression on her face.

"Why?" he groaned, but couldn't keep the smile from his face. "I've seen Oliver's little hideout before."

"But you've never had the Grand Smoakified Tour," she explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Besides your last visit was tainted, it was under duress because you were basically kidnapped by Oliver's psycho ex, those are Digg's words, by the way, not mine, even if they're true. Now, cover up Merlyn. Your eyes… I mean, cover your eyes, please."

"Fine, but only because you said please," Tommy complied and covered his eyes with his hand, he held out his other to her. "You're going to help me right? I've seen those stairs, I don't really want to die trying to walk down them blindly."

"Of course," Felicity assured him. She took his hand, placing it on her shoulder she led him down the stairs. "Okay… Step down, step."

Tommy followed as Felicity guided him carefully down the stairs. Once they reached the bottom they took a few more steps before coming to a stop.

"Are you ready?" Felicity asked excitedly.

"Sure," Tommy laughed, it was hard not to be affected by Felicity's enthusiasm. "Give me the Grand Smoakified Tour."

"Okay… and open."

Tommy opened his eyes and watched Felicity pull the heavy light switch up, it made a loud noise as the lights slowly blinking on. He looked around, taking in his surroundings. Felicity had been right, he hadn't noticed much during his previous visit, due to being threatened by Helena.

The basement was a very open space. There were tables set up in a square. There was an area set up with computers and other technical equipment. It had a large workout area, with mats and various types of equipment. A large wooden crate sat on one of the tables and there were rows and rows of the Hood's signature green arrows. It was very industrial, the unfinished walls and ceiling were lined with exposed pipe. He could hear the sound of water dripping somewhere.

"It's so dark," he commented.

The darkness suited Oliver. It added to the mystery and secrecy of his double life. But, Felicity, the darkness didn't suit her bright and sunny personality. He had a hard time picturing her in the space.

"Well it is a basement," Felicity excused. "But you're right. If Oliver ever decides to redecorate, I'll be sure to tell him to add some more lights. Maybe a plant… I've heard that ferns do well in low light, maybe he could get a fern."

She walked a few steps in front of him. "So," she said gesturing to the tables. "This is Oliver's work area. Did you know that he actually makes all of his arrows by hand. It makes sense, I guess, it would be easy for anyone to trace a huge shipment of green arrows. I mean, I did it. With the other archer, though that was a bit of a trap, but still, it would be too easy…"

Tommy listened to her rambling complete with wild hand gestures as he looked around. He had to admit, he was slightly impressed with what Oliver had done with the space. As he watched Felicity bounce around the area, he could see how her presence seemed to light up the dank basement.

"And this is my space," Felicity said excitedly. "My computers, my babies."

Tommy watched as she stood proudly in front of the impressive computer set up.

"You should have seen what Oliver was using before I fixed it," she said in a stage whisper, as if Oliver could hear and would appear at any moment. "Terrible. He was using the wrong processor and his wifi connection was awful. And don't even get me started on his firewall, zero protection. Honestly, I don't know how he functioned. It looked like something out of the 80s, and not the good part -"

"There was a good part of the 80s?" Tommy interrupted with a laugh, his eyebrows raised.

"Well, yeah," Felicity defended. "Leg warmers, Madonna. Anyway, I fixed all of that as soon as I could. After we saved Oliver's life. It's much better now."

"What's that?" Tommy asked curiously. He was pointing at two parallel poles coming down from the ceiling. There were rungs spaced evenly all the way down and a metal bar placed across the bottom rungs.

"Oh," Felicity's cheeks flushed red, she clearly her throat. "That's, um, that's the salmon ladder."

"How does it work?" Tommy asked, still staring at it.

"Umm… well, Oliver, he pulls himself up and sort of uses that momentum to bring the bar up to the next rung and repeats that process until he reaches the top," Felicity explained nervously, her whole face was red by the time she finished.

"Wow," Tommy said, impressed. "That must take a lot of strength."

"Yeah," Felicity said. "I've noticed… I mean, not noticed. I mean, he's obviously strong. He'd have to be… And he works out a lot, like all the time. Sometimes he just hangs on the pipes on the ceiling, doing pull ups, right above my computers. And shirtless. All the time. And sweaty… like glistening… And I'm just going to stop talking."

Tommy turned to look at Felicity, she was staring at the ground, her face seemed to be turning more and more red, spreading down her neck.

"Has he trained you?" Tommy asked curiously. "Or do you mostly stay down here?"

"Digg has. I mean, I do stay here most of the time. There was the one incident with the Dodger and a bomb collar," Felicity said, her fingers brushed lightly against her neck, remembering the feeling of the dangerous choker. "Anyway, after that Digg taught me. Just some basic self defence, how to get out of different holds. I spent most of the time on my back, to be honest, because he kept knocking me down, not for any other reasons. Not that any of the training helped me when Oliver's psycho ex attacked me. I just froze. Everything Digg had showed me just disappeared. Maybe if I had been able to have stopped her."

Tommy walked up to Felicity, he placed his hands on her shoulders, looking her in the eyes. "Hey," he said softly, interrupting her babbles. "She had a weapon pointed at you. And it wasn't your fault. Besides, from what I've heard, she's well trained. You might have been more seriously injured if you had tried to fight her off."

Felicity nodded. "I know, I just… I don't want Oliver to think I'm just some girl that needs saving, I want to be…" she shook her head and forced a smile on to her face. "Never mind."

Tommy watched as she turned around, fiddling with a file that was on the desk. Her shoulders her hunched up, and she was furiously chewing her bottom lip.

"So, what else is there to see?" Tommy asked brightly, trying to change the subject. "I was promised the Grand Smoakified Tour and I hate to admit it, but I'm not sure if this is living up to that… yet."

Felicity spun back around to face him, her smile creeping back onto her face. "Well, that just won't do," she waved Tommy over, showing him the different equipment that she used. He didn't understand much of the technical terms that we was using, but he was happy to see the smile back on her face.

He followed as she moved around the rest of the room, showing off every corner and little detail of the room. Sometimes sharing stories of moments she had witnessed and been a part of since joining Oliver's team.

"So, what do you think?" she asked once they had finished.

"It's pretty cool," Tommy admitted. "For a vigilante's secret lair."

Felicity smiled, she looked around. "I like it," she said softly, more to herself than to Tommy.

"I better go," Tommy said, noticing the time. "I've got to go over some of the numbers, see how we're doing, manager things and all that."

Felicity nodded. "I'll be here, there's a few searches I need to run." She waved as Tommy walked back up the stairs to the club.

"Felicity?" Oliver's voice rang through the lair, following by the clattering of footsteps coming down the stairs.

Felicity spun around in her chair to see Tommy and Oliver making their way down the stairs, both wearing matching anxious expressions.

"What's wrong?" Felicity asked, she stood up meeting the two men at the bottom of the stairs.

Oliver gently put his hand on her shoulder, leaning down to look her in the eye. "A girl was killed last night, there was Vertigo in her system. The police think that she got it here because she was here last night," Oliver explained. "I need you to run background checks on all the staff, look for any drug related arrests or charges."

Felicity nodded and sat back down in front of her computer and set to work. "Wouldn't that include the two of you?" she asked carefully. "Not that I'm judging, but I know there's a few of those in your pasts."

"She didn't get the drugs at the club," Tommy cut in, an edge to his tone. "Neither of us do that anymore."

"I know," Felicity assured him. "This may take a while."

"I'll be upstairs, call me if you find anything," Oliver said, he tapped her lightly on the shoulder before heading back up the stairs.

Tommy took a seat next to her, after a few minutes of silence he began tapping his finger against his knee. A few minutes later, he began spinning back and forth in his chair and humming quietly to himself.

"You don't have to stay if you're bored," Felicity said, still focused on the screen in front of her.

"I'm fine," Tommy shrugged. "I thought I'd keep you company, but it's so quiet, how do you stand it?"

Felicity looked around, as if noticing the silence for the first time, then turned back to the searches in front of her. " I never really noticed it," she mumbled. "I get really into my work."

The pair fell into silence again.

"I know that I used to be into the whole scene," Tommy blurted after a few minutes of quiet. "Drugs. Partying. I used to love it, but I've changed, I'm trying to better."

Felicity sighed and turned to face Tommy. He was hunched over in his seat, his elbows rested on his knees, he was rubbing his hands roughly over his face. His shoulders were tensed and his usually cheerful face was drawn with worry.

"I'm careful, I wouldn't allow drugs in the club," Tommy seemed to be talking to himself more than Felicity. "This job, running the club. It's important to me. I don't want to screw this up. I don't want my father to be right, he doesn't think that I can do this. But I can. That girl, she didn't get the drugs from the club. I know it."

Felicity moved closer, she placed her hand on his knee, he stopped his rant at her soft touch. She smiled when he raised his eyes to met hers.

"Hey, I believe you," Felicity said her tone full of comfort. "And I think your father is wrong, I think you can do this. We'll find out where the Vertigo came from."

Tommy struggled to smile back. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

"You know, I've really only had one experience with drugs," Felicity recalled. "A pot brownie, my freshman year. Which would have been fine, except that in addition to the pot, there were also nuts in the brownie. And I'm allergic to nuts. So my tongue swelled up and I couldn't breathe. I had my Epipen, of course, but I still had to go to the hospital. I'm sure it gave the ER nurses quite the story to tell their families, I guess."

Tommy huffed out a laugh, grateful for the subject change.

"Seriously, I looked ridiculous, all swollen and red, and trying to explain to the doctor what had happened. My tongue was still swollen, so I could barely talk. It came out all mumbly, but I kept trying. Trying to tell them that I didn't know that the brownie had pot in it. I mean, I talk a lot on a normal day, turns out, when I'm high, I get even more talkative," Felicity turned back to her computers.

"Thank you," Tommy said after a few minutes.

"We'll figure this out Tommy," Felicity assured him.

He died of an allergic reaction to chlorpromazine," Felicity said, reading from her tablet.

"That's an anti-psychotic," Oliver said in a confused tone. He was moving chairs and tables, in an attempt to put the lair back together. "Pull up the Veronica Sparks autopsy. Did she have chlorpromazine in her system?"

Felicity turned back to her tablet, looking for the information that Oliver had requested. "Yes. How'd you know?" she stood up, taking a few steps towards Oliver.

"The Count must've added it as an ingredient in this latest iteration of Vertigo," Oliver moved one of the tables, tapping his fingers on the edge, he had a look of concentration on his face.

"Wouldn't the amount he'd need to manufacture enough for circulation be huge?" Felicity questioned. "Where would he get that much?"

"A mental institution," Oliver replied. A look of realization lit up Oliver's face. "What if we're looking at this all wrong?"

"How so?" Felicity asked, still confused as she tried to piece the puzzle together.

"Everybody is looking for him outside the asylum," Oliver explained. "What what if he never left? What if he faked his escape, the same way he faked being insane?" Oliver turned on his heel, grabbing his suit and bow, he ran towards the back exit.

"I'll just stay here," Felicity called to his retreating back. "And clean this place up, by myself."

Oliver didn't respond as he left the building.

Felicity sighed heavily, looking around the lair, which in its present state, more resembled a storage room than a secret vigilante hideout. She pulled out her phone, quickly typing out a text.

A few minutes later she heard the door open and footsteps on the stairs. She turned to see Tommy making his way into the lair.

"Care to explain all this?" she asked, gesturing to the space around her.

"Sorry," Tommy said, scratching his ear. "Lance came by earlier, he wanted to search the club. He found out that I had I paid off the zoning commissioner, to hide this place, but Lance wanted to know what I was hiding, I think he thought it was drugs. I told him that he was welcome to come back… when he had a warrant."

Felicity scoffed. "You have been watching too many cop shows."

"I needed time, Felicity," Tommy explained, his voice raised in frustration. "I couldn't exactly just bring him down here. What was I supposed to do, just walk him into the secret lair that belongs to the vigilante, who also happens to be one of the most wanted men in the city. And what, just pretend I didn't know about it."

"Hey," Felicity interrupted. She walked towards Tommy. "Don't bite my head off. It's fine. I could just use a little help putting everything back together. Oliver was here, but he had to leave. He thinks he knows where the Vertigo is coming from."

"Sorry," Tommy said sincerely. He scrubbed his face with his hands.

"What's wrong?" Felicity asked in concern.

"You mean other than the fact that I'm being investigating by my girlfriend's father for selling drugs out of my club?" Tommy asked sarcastically.

"Tommy," Felicity chided.

"Oliver," Tommy said bitterly. "He… he actually believed it. He actually believed that I could have had something to do with the drugs. He doesn't see that I've changed. That I'm not the same person that he knew five years ago."

"What do you mean?" Felicity asked, she gestured towards one of the chairs, silently offering him a seat.

Tommy fell into one of the chairs. "Five years ago, I was a different person. I was all about the parties and the girls and the drugs. Five years ago, I would have been one of the people selling drugs at a club, or at least bringing some and sharing them with whoever wanted them."

"But not anymore," Felicity said.

"No," Tommy confirmed, shaking his head firmly. "It was when Oliver disappeared, and at first, I spent all my time trying to find him, trying to prove he was alive. But then, a couple years after, something happened… I got the proof I needed to believe that he was really gone and I fell off the rails for a little while. He was my best friend and he was dead. I didn't know how to deal with that, so for a while, I didn't.

"But what really helped me, what really got me back on track, was one day, I was going to visit his grave, and I saw Thea there. She was buying drugs. I got mad, told the dealer to leave. I tried to tell her that Oliver wouldn't want this, he would hate to see his baby sister going down the same path that we had gone down. She got mad at me, told me that I wasn't her brother, that Oliver hadn't cared that much when he was alive, so why would he care now. But it made me that she was right, Oliver and I were never the best examples for her growing up. And I realized that she needed one. Without Oliver around, she needed someone to look out for her. So, I was going to try.

"But, Oliver doesn't see that," Tommy said sadly. "He still sees me as the screw up that I was. I'm trying to see how he's changed, trying to understand him. So, why can't he do the same thing for me?" Tommy paused and looked at Felicity, a hurt expression on his face.

Felicity sighed, she moved over to Tommy, kneeling in front of him. "I'm sorry," she said. "It's not fair."

"No," Tommy said, he stood up. "But, it's not your fault."

Felicity copied his movements, standing up. "What are you going to do?"

"First, I'm going to help you put this place back in order. Because it's sort of my fault and Oliver abandoned you to it." He moved around and began opening the boxes that he had used to hight some of the team's equipment. "Then, I'm going to quit."

"What?" Felicity asked in alarm.

"I care about this club," Tommy explained. "But, it's too hard. I thought I could do it, be around this new person that Oliver has become, and try to understand it, but I can't. Not when he refuses to see the person that I've become. I've got too much self respect for that."

"What will you do?" Felicity asked. "For money, I mean, I thought your father was still cutting you off."

"Yeah," Tommy nodded, his tone was filled with defeat. "But I think he'd release that if I agree to work with him. It's what he's always wanted, me working for him."

Felicity didn't respond as she helped Tommy put the pieces of furniture of the room back in their proper places.

"I don't think you should go to work with your father," Felicity said, once they had finished and the lair was back to it's original state.

"I can't keep working here," Tommy argued.

"But you said that you care about the club, clearly you love this job," Felicity spoke slowly as she tried to put her idea into words. "You'd be miserable working for your father. Is that really what you want?"

Tommy groaned, he sat back down in one of the chairs. "I know. I know that I'd be miserable. I don't want to, but what other choice do I have, Felicity? I can't stay here."

"Maybe you should take a break," Felicity suggested. "Don't quit. Just take some time. You're upset with Oliver right now, I get that. But don't do something you'll regret. Because you will regret this. If you go to work for your father, you'll regret it."

Tommy didn't reply, he remained seated while Felicity gathered her things and walked towards the door.

"Thank you," he called as she left. He sat for a few more minutes, thinking about what Felicity had said. He shook his head, laughing as he stood up. Felicity Smoak, he thought, she certainly had a way of making him change his mind.

"This club is important to me, but for you, it's just a front," Tommy explained, he turned from the bar to face Oliver. "You want me to keep your secret, help you be this thing you've become, but you refuse to see me for what I've become. I've got a bit too much self respect for that.

"I was going to quit," Tommy admitted. "Give in and go work for my father. But, once again, Felicity talked me out of it. She reminded me that I would be miserable working for my father. And I've worked too hard to stay out from under his thumb to give in now.

"But Oliver, I can't work here, not right now," Tommy said, defeatedly. "I need some time. Time to process everything and figure out what I'm going to do."

Oliver stood still, remaining silent while Tommy shared his feelings. His face was expressionless, not giving anything away.

Tommy moved to walk passed Oliver, when Oliver reached out and grabbed Tommy's arm.

"I'm sorry," he muttered.

Tommy nodded, his gaze flicked up to Oliver's face. He could see remorse in Oliver's eyes. He pulled his arm away. "I know, I just need a few days." He walked towards the door.

Once he reached it, he turned back, Oliver hadn't moved, still standing in the same position. "You know," Tommy called out, Oliver turned to face him. "She really believes in you. She thinks that you can make a difference in this city. Don't let her be wrong."

Oliver didn't respond as Tommy turned and left the building. 


	4. Chapter 4

The sound of someone knocking on her front door caused Felicity to hit pause in the middle of her Doctor Who marathon. She stood up from the couch and made her way to the door. Without looking through the peephole, the thought that Oliver would be so disappointed in her carelessness briefly crossed her mind, as she pulled the door open.

"Tommy."

He was standing on the other side of the door. A tired and sad expression on his face, she could see that his eyes were rimmed with red, as if he had been crying. His hair was messy and stood on end, his hands were clenched in fists at his sides. She looked down and saw that a suitcase sat at his feet.

"What happened?" she asked, her voice filled with concern.

"Laurel and I broke up," he explained. "Or I broke up with her."

"Tommy, I'm so sorry," Felicity said sadly.

"Would I be able to stay here?" he asked awkwardly. "Just for a few days, a week at most, until I find a place? I know we don't really know each other, but I didn't know where else to go."

"Of course," Felicity moved out of the way, she gestured for Tommy to come inside. "You can use the spare room. Follow me."

Tommy followed, his feet dragging, as Felicity led the way through her modest town house, it was small, but full of life and colour, just like her. She opened one of the doors in the hallway.

"In here," she said. "Sorry about the mess. I don't get a lot of guests. So, I use this room as storage for some of the computers that I'm working on."

Tommy looked around the room. It was small, probably the size of his closet back at the manor. There was a double bed with a dark green comforter. A desk sat in the corner and was covered in various computer parts and wires.

"Thank you," he said, dropping his suitcase to the floor. "And I'm sorry to just barge in."

"No worries," Felicity brushed it off, she smiled. "Do you want to be alone? Or is this the sort of break up at requires chick flicks and ice cream?"

"Ice cream would be nice," Tommy chuckled. All ready feeling the effects of Felicity's bright personality. "But I might take a pass on the chick flicks."

"Okay, why don't you get settled, maybe change into some pjs, break ups usually require your most comfortable clothing and I'll grab the ice cream," Felicity offered. "We can meet in the living room."

Tommy nodded as Felicity bounced out of the room and down the hallway. He picked his suitcase up, placing it on the bed. He opened it up and pulled out a pair of old, worn sweatpants. He removed his jeans before pulling the on, then he dug through his hastily packed suitcase, finding a t-shirt to wear and he made his way back down the hallway Felicity's living room.

He had only been to her home once before. Back when he had first learned that Oliver was the vigilante, she had opened her home to him as a place to process that information; ice cream had also been involved then. As he walked down the hallway he took note of the framed pictures along the walls. There was one of a young Felicity, smiling proudly as she held up, what appeared to be some type of computer.

"You aren't really blonde," Tommy muttered in surprise, taking note of her darker hair colour.

"Hmm…" Felicity poked her head out of the kitchen. "Oh, no, I dye it… But don't tell anyone." She held her spoon out towards him in a threatening manner.

Tommy laughed, he looked at another picture, a teenage Felicity, wearing a graduation cap and gown.

"My high school grad," she supplied.

"You look so young," Tommy commented.

"Yeah, I was 16," she explained. "I graduated early."

"You really are a genius, aren't you?" Tommy asked rhetorically.

Felicity shrugged in response. "By some standards, I suppose."

Tommy shook his head, laughing lightly at her modesty as he followed her into the living room and took a seat on the couch.

"How come you don't have have family pictures?" Tommy asked curiously. "I don't mean to pry, I just noticed there's a lot of you, maybe a few of friends, but no family ones."

Felicity looked down, she twisted her fingers in her lap. "It's fine," she shrugged, still not looking up. "I just… I didn't have much of a family growing up. I was an only child. My mother… well she's my mother and my father, I don't know much about. He left when I was seven. All I really remember is that I got my love of computers from him. After he left, my mom spent most of her time working, trying to make enough money to keep a roof over our heads and keep me fed. O guess that didn't leave much time for family photos."

"Felicity, I'm so sorry," Tommy said. "I can sort of relate. My mom died when I was young, and my father… Well, I've told you a bit about him. He took off after she died. For almost two years, I think, I stayed with Oliver. And when he came back, he was a different person, cold, closed off. But, I am really sorry about your dad. We could form a club, a 'My dad sucks' club."

"It's fine," she shook her head, finally looking up from her lap. "Besides, we're not here to talk about me. What happened between you and Laurel, I thought you were happy?"

"I was, so happy," Tommy said, gladly accepting the ice cream that Felicity had offered, picking it up from the coffee table. He ate a large scoop before continuing. "I think I was just kidding myself. She doesn't feel the same. It's always going to be Oliver and Laurel. Always has been, always will be."

"Did she tell you that?" Felicity questioned, her head tilted in confusion. "Did she say that she still had feelings for Oliver?"

"She didn't have to, it's pretty obvious," Tommy said bitterly, roughing jabbing the spoon back into the bucket. "She'll always have feelings for him. Just like he'll always have feelings for her, even if he says that he can't be with her. You never forget your first love."

"I'm a little confused," Felicity admitted hesitantly. "You broke up with Laurel, even though you're still in love with her, because you think she still has feelings for Oliver."

"She does," Tommy interrupted.

"Okay. And Oliver is still in love with her, but he said that he can't be with her," Felicity tried to make sense of the information that Tommy had shared with her.

"Right, and she also has feelings for the vigilante," Tommy added. "Maybe it's more hero worship, because of the number of times he's saved her, which is a lot, but she definitely cares about him. He saved us, you know. The other night when we were at Laurel's watching Taylor. We were attacked and Oliver came bursting though the window. He had been watching, I guess, making sure we were safe. And if Laurel knew, if she knew that Oliver was also the vigilante, I'd never stand a chance."

"So, you're pulling away before you can get hurt," Felicity surmised. "Or get more hurt."

"I guess," Tommy admitted. He ate a few more bites of ice cream. "Is that so wrong?"

"No," Felicity assured him. "You're protecting yourself."

"Why do I feel like there's a but coming," Tommy said.

"But, what if you're wrong?" Felicity asked. "What if Laurel is in love with you and by pushing her away, you're only hurting the both of you more. You're ruining your chance at happiness."

"She'd never choose me," Tommy said dejectedly. "If she knew that Oliver was the vigilante, she'd choose him. She always chooses him."

"But she did choose you," Felicity cut in. "Think about it, she could have said no to you and pursued Oliver, but she didn't, she chose you. And I don't think you should give up so easily. I think, if you really love her, you should fight for her. I think you're scared and trying to take the easy way out."

Tommy shook his head, he leaned back against the couch, eating more of the ice cream that was in front of him.

"You know, if I have to keep giving you advice, I'm going to have to start charging, Merlyn," Felicity teased.

"What were you watching?" he asked, changing the subject. He was looking at the scene, still paused on the TV in front of him.

"Doctor Who," Felicity replied, she reached for the remote. "I can turn it off."

"Never heard of it."

"What?" Felicity gasped in mock outrage. "It's only one of the greatest shows of all time."

Tommy shrugged.

"Well, we'll just have to fix that." She jumped up and walked over to the rack of DVDs that stood by her TV, she pulled one out. "Normally, I'd say that you have to watch the originals, but for now, we'll start with the reboot."

She put the DVD into the player by her TV and sat back down. As the pair waited for it to start, Felicity launched into an animated description of the show's premise. Tommy tried to listen, but he found his mind drifting back to Felicity's words.

Was she right, had he given up on Laurel too easy? Had he made a mistake in breaking up with her?

"Alonzo runs the biggest underground casino in Starling City, when he's not kidnapping," Oliver said, looking at the computer screen over Felicity's shoulder.

"He looks like the type of lowlife someone would hire to kidnap Walter," Felicity said, she looked up at Oliver. "How many arrows do you think you'll have to put in him before he gives up Walter's location? Say a lot?"

"It's not that simple," Oliver admitted, nervously. "That casino has its own private army. We need to access Alonzo's computer, but without setting off any alarms."

"Looks like we're gonna need all the help we can get. It's too bad there's not someone else we could call," Felicity said pointedly, referring to Diggle leaving the team.

"That's enough," Oliver interrupted in a tired tone. "We can do this on our own."

"Well then," Felicity turned back to her computer. "Looks like someone's going gambling tonight."

Oliver shook his head. "Those guys would make me the minute I walked in there," he gestured to himself. "Oliver Queen would never be caught dead in a place like that."

"I wasn't talking about you," Felicity looked up at Oliver, her eyes wide and innocent.

"Absolutely not," Oliver refused, not even listening to her idea.

"I can count cards," Felicity said stubbornly. "It's all probability theory and mathematics, have you met me? Bottom line, I know my way around a casino."

"Felicity, I am not letting you walk —"

"Oliver," she interrupted, standing up to look him in the eye. "The reason I joined you in the first place, was to find Walter and for the first time, we have a real chance at finding him."

Oliver looked away, fighting with himself, torn between wanting to find Walter and protecting the blonde IT genius that stood in front of him.

"You have to let me do this," she looked at him, her eyes unwavering as she stood her ground.

Oliver turned back to face the computer. There was a picture of Walter on the screen, along with an article, detailing the ongoing FBI search for his step father. "All right," he said in defeat. He turned back to Felicity, his face serious. "But we do it my way."

Felicity nodded in consent. Oliver nodded his head in the direction his supplies, he walked over as Felicity followed behind. He tried to push away his worried thoughts of what could happen to his… He wasn't exactly sure what Felicity was to him. His IT specialist? His teammate? Could he call her his friend? Whatever she was, he would never forgive himself if something happened to her.

"So… That was Laurel," Felicity said casually as Oliver gathered a few items for their mission. "She's gorgeous. I mean, I knew she was, Gorgeous Laurel, but wow. I mean, she might be the prettiest person I've ever seen. It's no wonder she has…"

"Felicity?" Oliver interrupted. "I'm trying to prepare you for a dangerous undercover mission. You'll be going in there alone, I'll be over the comms, but you'll be on your own. Can you focus, please? And not talk about my ex-girlfriend?"

"Is she though, your ex-girlfriend? I… Not that it's any of my business. But I mean, are you? Still in love with her, I mean?"

"Felicity, do we really need to do this right now?" Oliver asked, he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Right. Sorry. None of my business," she waved off her prying questions.

Oliver nodded in agreement, turning back to the arrows in front of him. "So, you'll go in, find a table and start playing. Try to make it obvious that you're counting, remember you want to get caught, you need to get caught to get into Alonzo's office. And we don't want this to go on all night. So, be vocal about your winning, try to draw attention to yourself."

Felicity didn't respond, her eyebrows were in concentration. "I am curious though," Felicity jumped back in. "Laurel, now that her and Tommy are broken up, are you going to get back together with her?"

"Felicity," Oliver groaned in frustration, he threw his head back.

"Sorry, I'm just curious," Felicity muttered, she looked down, fiddling with the hem of her sweater.

"If I answer your questions," Oliver offered, taking pity on the girl beside him. "Do you promise that you will focus? You need to know the plan."

"Yes," Felicity nodded firmly, perking up at the thought of having a peek into Oliver's allusive past. "I promise."

"Okay… What do you want to know?" Oliver tensed in preparation. Already dreading his choice to allow Felicity to ask questions. Mostly because he was not proud of his past, and he feared Felicity's reaction. He didn't want it to affect the opinion she held of him.

"Were you in love with Laurel before you got on the Gambit?" Felicity asked, her expression curious.

Oliver sighed heavily, he shook his head, a nervous laugh escaped his lips. "Getting right to it," he muttered.

Felicity shrugged, but not taking her question back.

"My relationship with Laurel was… complicated," Oliver explained. "I… I was a different person back then. I wasn't always faithful to her."

"Obviously, I mean you took her sister with…" Oliver cut her off with a harsh glare. She shrank back muttering an apology and mimed zipping her lips shut.

"I was rich and stupid. And girls… They wanted the money, they wanted the parties, and all other the advantages that came with having money. So, they would flirt and sometimes more, to get to that. And I let them, I enjoyed it. The attention and the fact that I could get away with it," Oliver's tone was filled with regret as he recalled his former life.

"Laurel was just always there. She usually found out about the other girls, and we would break up. But she was always there and a few weeks later, after many apologies, from my end, we would eventually get back together and I could always count on her. And I took advantage of that, which is probably one of my biggest regrets.

"Before I got on the Gambit, I had just dropped out of the fourth university I had attended. I was going nowhere fast. And Laurel… She was going places. She had just applied for law school and had all these plans, plans for herself, plans for us. She was really pushing for us to move in together, and I just… I panicked," Oliver paused and rubbed his hands over his face roughly.

Felicity didn't say anything as she waited for him to continue.

"The idea of settling down and buying a place with her, scared me, terrified me. So, I did the one thing that I knew she wouldn't be able to forgive."

"You took her sister with you," Felicity filled in quietly, a hint of disappointment in her tone.

Oliver looked at her, his eyes wide and filled with regret, he nodded solemnly. "Sara and I had been flirting and had hooked up once, and had been texting ever since, so I asked her to come with me," he looked down in shame, not wanting to see the disappointment on Felicity's face. "I knew she wouldn't say no. And I knew that once Laurel found out, she would drop the idea of us moving in together."

"And you thought that she'd forgive you again?" Felicity asked in disbelief. "That after you came back, maybe in a few weeks, she'd forgive you for sleeping with her sister, for running away with her sister, because that's what she had done every other time?"

"I'm not that person anymore, Felicity," Oliver looked at her, his eyes pleading her to believe him, to understand. "And I wasn't thinking about the after part, the consequences, I never did. I only focused on the moment. But, you have to believe me, if I could go back and fix things, I would. I would have never taken Sara on the Gambit with me. There is nothing that I regret more. But I can't go back, so I'm trying to fix it now."

Felicity nodded, considering Oliver's pleas. "So are you?" she pressed, avoiding his eyes and dreading his answer. "Still in love with her."

Oliver looked away, thinking for a moment. "Laurel gave me a picture of her before I left. And I clung to it. It was the only thing I had from home, other than my father's book, but I didn't know what it meant then. That picture was home to me. And I needed that, during the dark, cold, raining nights. She was home."

"But…" Felicity started, trying to understand. "You weren't happy with her before."

"We were happy some of the time," Oliver shrugged. "And those were the moments I focused on. And I thought that if I ever got home, I would make it up to her, fix things. I could be happy."

Felicity opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it, changing her mind, instead saying: "So, I get caught, counting cards. They'll bring me to Alonzo's office and I will plant the bug."

"Felicity?" Oliver asked, a sad and confused look on his face.

"The plan," she prompted, she looked at him, her face expressionless. "You answered my question. Thank you, by the way, for trusting me. I know that's not an easy thing for you. Now, back to the plan."

"You don't have anything to say," Oliver said in disbelief. There was a part of him that needed to hear Felicity say something, anything, to hear her say that she believed him. To say that hearing about his past, didn't change the way she saw him.

"I do," she admitted in a quiet voice. "I just don't know if it's what you want to hear."

"What?" he pressed desperately. "Tell me."

"Are you sure?" she asked carefully.

Oliver took a deep breath, bracing himself before nodding.

"I think… I think that you're in love with the idea of Laurel, more that actually being in love with her," Felicity said quickly. She paused and looked down, waiting for Oliver's reaction.

When he didn't respond, she looked up. Oliver was staring at her with a look of confusion on his face.

"What do you mean?" he finally asked after several minutes of silence.

"I think, when you were lost and alone and scared on the island… And whatever else you went through," Felicity gave him a knowing look, not believing that he had spent his five years away, only on the island. "I think you held onto the idea of Laurel, you idolized her, idolized what your relationship was, because she was your reminder of home.

"You said so yourself," Felicity continued. "That you focused on the good parts of your relationship, but you also said that you didn't have a very good relationship. How would that change once you came back? You took sister on a boat with you… And she died and you came back."

Oliver looked down, he rubbed his fingers nervously together at his side.

"And I think," Felicity said. "That there is a part of you that still dreams of that. The normalcy of having someone to go home to. And the closest you've ever come to that, was Laurel. It was easier then you knew what to expect. But you've also said that you can't be with her, because of what you do. So, if you really mean that, leading her on isn't fair. And if you don't, if you believe that you do still love her, then you have to make that decision. But, I don't think you do, love her, I mean, I don't know if you ever did."

Oliver picked up one of his arrows, running it between his fingers, he thought about what Felicity had said.

"You're not going to shoot me with that, are you?" she asked, nervously eyeing the weapon he held in his hands. "Because you asked me to tell you what I was thinking."

Oliver let out a small laugh and shook his head. "No," he reassured her, putting the arrow back on the table. "I was just thinking, you might be right."

"Of course I am. Wait, are you actually admitting that I'm right," Felicity joked. "Should I be recording this? Oliver Queen is admitting that someone else could be right."

"Haha," Oliver laughed dryly. "Now, let's focus. What's the plan again?"

"Woah," Tommy gasped.

"What?" Felicity asked, her hand flying to her face. "Is there something on my face? Caught in my teeth?"

"No, you look amazing?" Tommy complimented.

He took a minute to look her up and down, his eyes moving all around her body. The usually casually dressed IT girl was wearing a floor length red gown. Her blonde hair was free of its usual pony tail, her locks were curled and clipped to one side. She wasn't wearing her signature thick framed glasses, which caused her eyes to look bigger and a brighter blue than normal. She really looked beautiful.

"Thanks," she muttered, her cheeks flushed, uncomfortable under his gaze.

"What's with the fancy fancy?" he asked.

"Oh, this old thing," she teased, she played with the skirt. "I'm helping Oliver with a case."

"A case that requires a ball gown?" Tommy asked skeptically.

"We got a lead on Walter, a person of interest," Felicity explained. "But I couldn't hack into their network from the foundry. So, I'm going to go in and plant a bug."

"Why do I feel like there's something you aren't telling me?" Tommy asked suspiciously.

Felicity looked down nervously, fiddling with the clutch she was carrying. "It's nothing. I just have to get caught counting cards in an underground casino. They'll bring me to the office and I'll be able to plant the bug," she said in a rush.

"What?" Tommy raised his voice. "And Oliver agreed to this? What is he thinking? Are you going in alone? I've been in some of those underground casinos, they're filled with criminals."

"Oliver will be there," Felicity tried to reassure Tommy. "He'll be on comms the whole time, if anything goes wrong, he'll be right there."

Tommy shook his head, running his hands roughly through his hair. "This is insane."

"Tommy," Felicity said his name softly, putting her hand on his arm. "I'll be fine. Oliver won't let anything happen to me. I'm safe with him."

Tommy clenched his jaw, biting back his retort. "Be careful," he said and stalked passed her, into the guest room he was still using. His body was shaking with anger at the thought of Oliver willingly putting Felicity in danger.

Tommy jerked awake at the sound of Felicity's front door closing. He could hear the muffled sounds of someone shuffling around one of the other rooms. Assuming it was Felicity returning from the mission, he got out of bed and poked his head out the door.

"Sorry," Felicity said in a choked voice. "I didn't meant to wake you."

All the anger he had felt earlier in the evening evaporated at the state Felicity was now in.

Her eyes were red and tears continued to slip down her cheeks. She had taken the clip out of her hair, which now hung in messy curls around her face. Her arms were crossed at her waist, as if she was trying to hold herself together. He quickly left the bedroom, walking to her side.

"What happened?" he asked, his tone filled with concern. "Did someone hurt you?"

"No," Felicity shook her head. "Everything went according to plan. Well, the guy did hold a gun to my head, but Oliver was there."

"Then what is it?" Tommy asked. He stood anxiously in front of her. Part of him wanted to pull her into his arms and comfort her. But the other part, reminded him that he didn't know her well enough to do that. Their friendship was still new and not at the hugging stage yet. He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable.

"Walter," she sobbed, fresh tears dripped down her cheeks. "He's dead."

At those words, Tommy ignored his reservations about hugging the girl in front of him and pulled her against his chest. Her body shuddered with sobs as she clutched to his shirt.

After a few minutes, Felicity pulled away. "Sorry," she muttered, wiping her cheeks.

"Hey, it's not everyday I can offer my shoulder for a beautiful girl to cry on," Tommy joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Felicity sighed sadly. "I'm gonna go clean up and then go to bed." She didn't wait for Tommy's reply as she wandered into her bedroom, returning moments later with a set of comfortable looking pyjamas. She didn't look at him as she walked passed him and into the washroom, closing the door behind her.

Through the closed door, Tommy heard the shower turn on. Unsure of what else he could do for Felicity, he went back into his room and tried to go back to sleep.

He woke some time later to his phone alerting him of a text message. It was from Felicity:

I didn't want to wake you. I couldn't sleep, so I'm going to check on Oliver.

Oliver.

Tommy felt a wave a guilt rush over him. He hadn't even considered how his friend, if he could still call Oliver that, might be feeling, with the news of step father.

Though initially, Oliver had rejected the idea of Walter as his step father, as time had gone on, it was obvious that he had started to enjoy having Walter around and getting to know him. Walter had been the father figure that Thea had needed. Tommy hated the thought of Thea losing another father.

Tommy lay back against the pillows. His mind was too active to sleep. He found his thoughts drifting back to Laurel and their break up.

He missed her. He missed her horrible cooking and the way she was always up at the crack of dawn, despite his attempts to cuddle, always ready to save the world. He missed her smile and her laugh. He missed the way she felt in his arms, how perfectly she fit there.

Part of him wanted to call her, wanted to show up at her door with flowers and her favourite takeout. To stand in front of her and beg for her forgiveness. To tell her how sorry he was for breaking up with her, what a mistake it had been. To tell her that he loved her.

But the other part, the louder part, reminded him of her feelings that still lingered for Oliver. The fear that if she knew that Oliver was the vigilante, that she would pick him. And Tommy would be left alone.

Then Felicity's words echoed in his ears. That if he really loved Laurel, he should fight for her. He shouldn't let his fears get in his way.

His phone vibrated, breaking him out of his thoughts. It was another message from Felicity.

Info was wrong. Found Walter. At hospital now.

Tommy sighed with relief, happy to hear the good news. He read the text message again, this time a frown crossed his face. Felicity always used full sentences and proper grammar in her messages, sometimes, even correcting his. There was something off about her message, something that made him worry, that although they had found Walter, this was far from over and something else was coming. Something much bigger.


	5. Chapter 5

Felicity sat in front of her computers with Diggle leaning over her shoulder as they went through the surveillance photos of Oliver's mother. Ever since they had discovered that she and Malcolm Merlyn were responsible, not only for Walter's abduction, but also a mysterious conspiracy involving the Glades, the team had been watching her movements closely, trying to gather any information as to what the conspiracy could be.

"I've been watching your mother for days now, Oliver, and nothing. She goes to work, she comes home," Diggle explained, disappointed to not have more helpful information. "Occasionally, she goes out to dinner. She seems to particularly like the salmon tartare from Table Salt."

"I'm linked into her home and office phone. Nothing out of the ordinary," Felicity added, still clicking her way through the photos. "No mention of Walter's abduction or the Undertaking. Just a few innocuous calls to Malcolm Merlyn."

"Why wouldn't she call him? They're old friends," Oliver said bitterly. He was sitting behind Felicity and Diggle, clutching his bow in his hands. His gaze was unfocused as he stared off, not really seeing. "We're all old friends."

Felicity stood up, she took a few small, hesitant steps towards Oliver. "Are you okay?" she asked softly. She knew it wasn't the best question to ask, but she didn't know what else to say.

"My mom and my best friend's dad are involved in a conspiracy that may have dire consequences for the city. And I'm pretty sure they murdered my father," Oliver added as a bitter afterthought. "I'm not planning on using the word 'okay' again, any time soon."

Felicity nodded, she bit her lip nervously, taking another step closer to Oliver. "Speaking of your best friend's father," she segued. "Have you thought about telling Tommy, about his father's involvement. He deserves to know."

"What am I supposed to tell him, Felicity?" Oliver asked desperately. "All I know is that they're planning something, but I have no idea what. I want to tell him, I do, because I don't want to keep anything else from him. But right now, we've got nothing."

"But he deserves to know," Felicity insisted. "It's not fair to keep this from him."

"And I will," Oliver promised. "As soon as we have more information."

"Listen, all we know for sure is that Malcolm and your mother are planning something for the Glades," Diggle spoke calmly.

"And that Walter and I were getting too close to it and that's why they had him kidnapped," Felicity added.

"We have to figure out what the Undertaking is," Diggle concluded.

"I gotta ask her," Oliver said standing

"Woah, no," Felicity interrupted. She walked in front of Oliver, cutting him off. "The last time the vigilante paid your mom a visit you got shot and I got to play doctor with you," Felicity groaned, she ran her hand over her head, smoothing her ponytail. "My brain thinks of the worst way to say things."

"This time, it'll just be me asking," Oliver said softly. "A friendly mother-son chat." He turned and walked up the stairs, leaving Diggle and Felicity in the lair.

"Anything?" Oliver asked.

During Oliver's discussion with his mother, which had involved Diggle dressing as the vigilante and kidnapping them, she had revealed that Malcom, along with Unidak industries had built a device that would create a manmade earthquake, to effectively level the Glades.

Felicity had spent the past few frustrating and exhausting hours, trying to hack into the Merlyn Global mainframe, so far to no success, trying to find the device's location.

"Just for the record," Felicity snapped. "I will pump my fist in the air and scream 'yes' if I get in."

"You know," Diggle said tiredly. "You could just say this isn't working."

"This. Isn't working," Felicity burst out.

"All right," Diggle said calmly, trying to calm the tension in the air. "There has to be some other way to find out where he's keeping the device."

"Unless, I can waltz up to Merlyn's mainframe and plug in my tablet directly," Felicity explained in a frustrated tone. "There's no way of getting that location."

"Then we waltz," Oliver offered.

"Excuse me?"

"You need direct access to the mainframe. So we get you direct access to the mainframe," Oliver said "And then we figure out where the device's being held."

"Oliver," Felicity spoke carefully, trying to remain calm, but her frustration leaked into her voice. "I did mention that the mainframe is located inside Merlyn Global Group's main headquarters, on the 25th floor. It's only accessible through a restricted access elevator."

"I know, we're gonna have to break in," he revealed.

"Break in? Are you insane?" Felicity asked. "How are we supposed to break in, it's the middle of the day. You can't just go marching in there as the vigilante, you'll get caught. And everyone knows you as Oliver Queen, why would you be at the company?"  
"Digg could pose as a security guard," Oliver said thoughtfully. The plan was coming together in his mind. "You and I go in, Digg will be in the security room. He can cover the cameras, be our extra set of eyes."

"What if there are other guards?" Felicity pressed, not sold on Oliver's plan. "There's probably going to be more than one in the security room."

"We could drug him," Diggle offered offhandedly. "Just something to knock him out for a few hours, we'll be in and out."

"You're going in as Oliver Queen then," Felicity assumed.

Oliver nodded thoughtfully. "I can pretend to be meeting with Malcolm or looking for Tommy. Like you said, it's the middle of the day, I can't exactly go in wearing my leathers."

Felicity sighed. "All right, looks like we're breaking in."

"What are you doing here?"

The familiar voice caused Oliver to freeze. He had just separated from Felicity, leaving her to work her tech magic, to hopefully gain the access they would need to find the location of the earthquake device. He turned around to see Tommy standing a few feet away from him.

"Looking for you actually," Oliver said smoothly.

"How'd you know I'd be here?" Tommy asked suspiciously.

"Felicity," Oliver fibbed. "She mentioned that you were seeing your father today."

Tommy nodded, not entirely believing the story that Oliver was feeding him.

"Anyway, I thought it was past time we talked," Oliver changed the subject.

"About what?" Tommy asked sarcastically. "Me taking a break from the club? You being a serial killer? We're not lacking for topics."

"Let's start with Laurel, since you're still in love with her," Oliver offered, not holding back.

"So are you," Tommy retorted bitterly.

Oliver didn't respond immediately. His mind going over the discussion regarding Laurel he had had with Felicity a few days before. "What if I'm not?" Oliver asked quietly.

"Is that a question?" Tommy challenged. "Because that's really something you should know. And you are, you always have been."

Oliver didn't say anything, his mouth opened and closed a few times, no sound coming out as he tried to find the right words.

"Are you going to say something," Tommy called him out. "You said you wanted to talk, so talk. I've got places to be."

"This isn't easy for me," Oliver muttered. "I've never been very good at talking."

"You never used to have issues before, not with me," Tommy reminded him. "It's only since you came back and had all these lies and secrets that we've had issues."

Oliver sighed and nodded sadly. "You're right," he admitted. "Back then, I just had to say what people expected to hear."

"Shocking how often that happens, me being right," Tommy muttered.

Oliver was silent for another beat, there was a look of concentration on his face as he took a deep breath. "I've been thinking," Oliver tried to find the right words to explain. "When I was on the island, I carried a photo of Laurel with me. She had given it to me right before I left and somehow, it survived the boat going down and I still had it. It was all I had of home. I began to associate it with home, the safety and hope that I would eventually get back home. And I clung to that.

"Eventually, Laurel became home… Or the idea of home. And I was desperate to get back. I would have done anything.

"I think I convinced myself that if I ever got home, if I could go back to Laurel and somehow earn her forgiveness for everything I had done, for Sara, that would fix everything," Oliver continued. "But then, I got back and I realized how wrong I was.

"I can't be with her because of what I do, what I need to do to save the city. But there was a part of me that still wanted her attention. She made me feel like the person I was before the island, not this… thing that I've become."

"So, what's changed?" Tommy asked.

"Do you remember what we were like, Laurel and me, when we were together?" Oliver asked offhandedly.

"Sure," Tommy responded.

"I cheated on her, a lot, I used her," Oliver filled in, not letting Tommy respond. "But she always took me back. It wasn't a healthy relationship."

Tommy nodded, he could remember, all the fights, the lies, the hurt, the phone calls from Oliver, wanting to go out and party because he was a 'free man'. How a week later, the couple would be back together, only to repeat the pattern a few months later.

"We were miserable," Oliver concluded. "But it was easy and comfortable. Safe, which was better than being alone. So we pretended that we were fine."

"So, why would you want to go back to that?" Tommy asked in a confused tone. "Or do you think it would be different this time?"

"I don't know if it would be different," Oliver explained. "But those were easier times. My father was still alive, Sara was still alive. I didn't have to lie and keep secrets from everyone that I care about. It was easier. And even though I know that what I'm doing is right, sometimes I wish it were easier, less complicated. But it can't be."

"And how did you come to this moment of clarity?" Tommy asked after a few moments of absorbing what Oliver was saying. "Because a few weeks ago, I think you would have jumped at the chance at being with Laurel again."

"Felicity," Oliver smiled softly as the IT expert's name spilled from his lips.

Tommy watched his friend's reaction curiously. There was a faraway, dreamy look in his eyes, as he seemed to be thinking about the blonde genius.

"She has a way of doing that," Tommy related.

"Huh?" Oliver asked, startled out of his thoughts.

"Felicity," Tommy clarified. "She has a way of making you second guess yourself. Of saying exactly what you need to hear, at the exact moment you need to hear it."

"She does," Oliver agreed. "And look, the bottom line is, Laurel and I can't be together. We were toxic for each other. But the two of you…"

"So what, I'm the consolation prize?" Tommy said bitterly. "Yeah, I'll pass."

"She's not anyone's property," Oliver said. "Laurel makes her own decisions. And she chose you, until you couldn't handle it. Lord knows I'm guilty of a lot of things between us, but not you and her. That's all I came to say."

Tommy didn't respond as Oliver turned to leave.

"And just so you know," Oliver added over his shoulder. "I've never seen you happier than when you were with her."

"I've never been more happy," Tommy confirmed. "But what if she doesn't feel the same? What if she still has feelings for you?"

"You'll never know until you try," Oliver replied. "If there is anything that I've learned, it's that life is short and we can't waste the time that we've got. Because we have no idea when we're going to run out of it."

"Wow," Tommy barked out a laugh. "That may have been the cheesiest thing that I've ever heard you say."

"Shut up," Oliver muttered.

"Seriously, are you blushing?" Tommy continued to tease. "Big, badass vigilante, handling out dating advice. Not so tough now, are you big guy?"

Oliver shook his head, fighting a smirk as he walked out of the office. He looked at his watch, he needed to check on Felicity and her progress. Hopefully, she had gathered all the information they required.

Felicity was hunched over her tablet, typing furiously as she tried to download the information from the Merlyn Global mainframe. She nervously checked the time, the download was taking longer than she had anticipated, but she knew that she still had time before the guard would be making his next round. She tapped her fingernails impatiently on the desk as she watched the progress bar slowly move closer to being finished.

"Guys, you got trouble," Diggle's voice came through the ear piece she wore.

"What?" she gasped.

"Felicity's about to have some ahead of schedule company," Diggle informed them in a rushed whisper.

The guard. She looked at the time, he wasn't supposed to come around for another 15 minutes. And the download wasn't finished.

"I'm not there yet on the download," she worried. They needed this information, they needed to find the earthquake device.

"Hold tight, I'm on my way," Oliver spoke calmly.

A sense of relief washed over her, knowing that Oliver would be there soon. Although she wouldn't admit it out loud, she was terrified of being alone in the small computer room. Diggle had been watching the cameras, but that didn't stop her from looking over her shoulder every few seconds, waiting for someone to catch her.

"Oliver." An unfamiliar voice spoke, she could hear the muffled conversation as Oliver spoke to them.

Felicity tapped her foot, waiting for the download to finish, while watching the door out of the corner of her eye.

"Felicity!" Diggle's voice spoke urgently into her ear.

"Just a few more seconds," Felicity promised, typing in the last few lines of code. She worked furiously, trying to finish the download.

"She's gonna get made, Oliver. Oliver!" Diggle's worried voice rang in her ear. "Did you hear me? Felicity!"

"Just a few more seconds," she repeated, knowing that the download was nearly complete.

"You don't have a few more seconds," Diggle seethed.

"Yes!" Felicity pumped her fist in the air. "Wow. I really do do that." She moved quickly, disconnected her tablet and left the small room. She closed the door behind her, she turned around, nearly running into a large security guard.

"Oh, God," she breathed, her eyes widened as he glared at her. She could hear Diggle's panicked voice in her ear, calling out to Oliver, who still hadn't responded.

"This is a restricted area," the guard said firmly. "Let's see some ID.  
"ID, umm…" Felicity squeaked. She slowly moved her hand into her pocket, desperately trying to think of an excuse that could explain why she was there. But her mind was blank.

"There you are," Diggle's voice came from behind her. "Thanks a lot man. This one snuck past security. One of Merlyn's bimbos. She's pissed he never called her back."

The guard nodded in understanding. "Copy that, I read the tabloids."

"Yeah, thanks again," Diggle clapped him on the shoulder, grabbing Felicity's arms as he pulled her away. "Let's go Barbie, your new last name ain't gonna be Merlyn."

"But I love him. He's my man," Felicity played along in a whiny voice. Once they were around the corner, out the guard's view, Diggle loosened the grip on her arm. "My knight in shining armour."

Diggle led her to the elevator. "I have to get back," he whispered as she climbed on. "Meet you at the van in a few."

Felicity nodded as the door began to close. She pressed the button for the lobby.

"Hold the door," a voice called out.

Felicity froze as a hand reached out and grabbed the door. She held her breath and looked down as the door opened, hoping to go unnoticed, she fiddled with the Big Belly Burger jacket she had borrowed from Carly, as someone walked onto the elevator.

"Felicity?"

She looked up, startled by the familiar voice, her body froze.

Tommy stood in front of her, a look of confusion on his face as the doors slid shut behind him. "What's going on?" he questioned, his tone filled with suspicion. "And why are you wearing a Big Belly uniform?"

"Umm…" Felicity looked down, avoiding his eyes. "About that… it's a funny story."

"Felicity," he spoke through clenched teeth. "Does it have something to do with Oliver being here?"

"Maybe…" she trailed off. Her breath quickened as she tried to think of what to tell Tommy.

He deserved to know what his father was planning, but she didn't know how to explain it. How does a person explain, to a relatively new friend, that their father is planning to destroy have of the city with a manmade earthquake machine? She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, desperately trying to figure out what to say.

"Felicity?" Tommy repeated her name impatiently.

"I can't explain it," she muttered.

"Seriously?" Tommy said incredulously. "Now, Oliver has you keeping secrets too? I expect that him, but not you."

"Tommy," Felicity cut him off, her eyes flashing up to his. "I want to tell you, I do. But not here."

A look of disbelief crossed his face. "What?" he questioned.

"Not here," Felicity gestured around her. "There's too many people who can overhear. Can you come by the foundry later? Or I'll call you?"

Tommy sighed heavily. "Fine," he agreed. "But I want the whole story. No more secrets."

Felicity nodded. "I promise," she swore. "I'll tell you everything."

Tommy closed his eyes. "Okay."

The doors of the elevator opened, Felicity threw herself forward, almost running out. She saw Oliver as she walked out. He was facing the door, talking to Thea and Roy. She looked over her shoulder, briefly meeting his eyes as she pushed on the door. His eyes seemed to be pleading with her, apologizing for not being there to help her.

"What are you saying, Oliver, you would hang up the hood?" Felicity heard Diggle ask, she looked up from the screen in front of her, listening to their conversation.

Oliver turned to face Diggle. "Merlyn's plan is what I returned from the island to stop." He started to walk towards the stairs, a determined look on his face.

"Where are you going?" Diggle called after him.

"Out," he replied shortly. "Felicity, call me the minute you find anything."

Felicity nodded, turning her attention back to the computer monitor in front of her, working furiously to find a location on the seismic device in the mountain of data she had taken from Merlyn's mainframe.

Oliver raised his hand and knocked on the door in front of him. He pushed away the nervous feeling that was beginning to settle in his stomach.

Laurel opened the door, a harsh glare on her face when she realized who was on the other side of her door.

"Can we talk?" Oliver asked carefully, unsure of how she would react.

Laurel opened the door wider, allowing him entry. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Wow, I thought this was going to be easier to say," Oliver stuttered, trying to find the right words.

"Just say what you want to say and go." Laurel was avoiding his eye, looking at the floor.

"Ever since I got back, we've been doing this dance," Oliver explained. "We come together and I pull away, something pulls me away. And it's… That's not fair. To you, or to Tommy."

A look of confusion crossed her face at the mention of Tommy's name. "What are you talking about?"

Oliver sighed. "Do you remember what it was like when we were together?" he asked.

"When were in public, we smiled and laughed, and said the right things. Outwardly, we looked like the perfect couple," Oliver continued without waiting for her to respond. "But privately, when it was just us, we were both miserable."

"Not always," Laurel tried to argue. "We were planning a future together. We were going to move in together."

"You were planning a future," Oliver cut in. "I was dropping out of schools and cheating on you with your sister."

Laurel flinched at the reminder, she closed her eyes, she took a deep breath before opening them, a look of sadness visible in her green eyes.

Oliver reached into his pocket, he pulled out a small, faded and worn photo. He ran his thumb over the smiling face of the subject one final time. "Do you remember when you gave this to me?" he questioned as he handed her the photo.

She was silent for a moment, holding it between her fingers, a soft smile crossed her face. She nodded. "It was right before you got on the Gambit. To remember me, just in case you got lonely," she recalled. The memory was fresh in her mind. It was a moment that she had replayed over and over in her mind after she had learned that the boat had sunk. Even after she had learned that Sara had been with him and they had been presumed dead. It was her last happy memory of him. "I can't believe you still have it."

"Yeah," Oliver replied. "It was all I had of home when I reached the island. I used to look at it every night and pray, to whatever god was listening, to get home, to you."

Laurel looked up from the photo, watching Oliver with careful eyes.

"I convinced myself that I would be able to fix everything if I ever got home," he admitted. "I thought I'd be able to make up for everything, the way I treated you, everything with Sara, it would all magically be fixed and we could be together, happy, like you always wanted."

"So, why can't we?" Laurel asked, her tone was sad, but there was an undertone of acceptance, as if she already knew what Oliver's answer would be.

"Because it's not that simple," Oliver said sadly. "Don't you remember how much we fought, the lies, the cheating. We put on a good front when we needed to, but I don't think we were ever really happy. But we were comfortable, safe, maybe too scared to be alone. But we weren't happy, I ran off with your sister, your sister, Laurel."

Laurel didn't reply as she sat on the arm rest of her couch. "I think you're right," she admitted after a minute of silence. "I think I only focus on remember the good times because it was so much easier then."

Oliver nodded. "All I have ever wanted is for you to be happy," he said. "But that's not with me."

"You were my first love," Laurel sighed. "I hoped you'd be it for me. The love of my life."

Oliver shook his head. "You deserve better, better than a guy he cheated and lied. You deserve someone who makes you laugh and challenges you. Someone like…"

"Tommy?" Laurel breathed.

Oliver nodded. "Tommy," he repeated. "Remember when Thea first told me that the two of you were together?"

Laurel nodded. "You barely reacted," she remembered.

"That's because I already knew," he admitted. "I had seen the two of you together. And I wasn't mad, you both looked so happy, so complete. You deserve that."

"I don't think Tommy wants that," Laurel countered. "Not anymore."

"He got scared," Oliver said, he stood up, moving towards the door. "But he loves you. And I think you still love him too."

Laurel nodded. "I do," she admitted in a small voice.

"I'm glad," Oliver said. "Goodbye Laurel, and be happy."

As he walked out he could hear Laurel speaking on the phone.

"Tommy? Hey… would you, could you come over?" she asked nervously. "I think it's time we talked. Oh, you're on your way over? Okay."

Once outside, Oliver breathed in deeply, feeling much lighter than he had in a long time, despite the threat that still hung over the city. His phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out to see Diggle's name flashing on the screen.

"What is it?" he answered, skipping the greeting.

"Felicity found the Markov device. Merlyn's keeping it in a warehouse his company owns in the Glades," Diggle explained.

"Good," Oliver replied. "Coordinate an attack. You take the device, I'll take Merlyn. Got a location?"

"Yeah, according to Felicity's trojan, Merlyn's logged onto his computer from his office," Diggle said.

"I'm on my way," Oliver hung up, not waiting for a reply as he ran towards his car. His leathers and supplies were in the trunk. He quickly got in, driving towards Merlyn Global, more determined than ever to stop Merlyn, once and for all.


	6. Chapter 6

"Have you heard anything?" Felicity asked nervously. She paced back and forth in front of her computers.

"You mean since you last asked me, two minutes ago," Diggle replied, though there was worry present in his tone as he checked his phone for the tenth time.

"We should have heard from him by now," she chewed on her thumbnail. "It's been over an hour. He should have called by now."

"I know," Diggle agreed.

"Do you… Do you think something happened to him?" she asked anxiously, fearing the worst. "Do you think Merlyn…"

After Felicity had found the location of Merlyn's earthquake machine Diggle had called to let Oliver know, he had immediately gone to confront Merlyn. Diggle had gone to find the machine, only to discover that Malcolm had moved it. He had informed Oliver and that had been the last that either had heard from the masked vigilante.

"I don't know," Diggle muttered, trying to push away the thoughts of what could have happened to his friend.

"Wait," Felicity said she raised her finger in the air. She ran back to her computers and quickly began typing.

"What are you doing?" Diggle asked, he moved to stand over her shoulder, watching her fingers fly over the keys.

"I'm tracking him," she explained.

"I thought you said you weren't able to track his phone…" Diggle trailed off in confusion.

"Because it is either turned off or destroyed," Felicity supplied. "But I just remembered his boot."

"His boot?" Diggle parroted, doubt in his tone.

"Yes. Remember, he put a tracker in his boot?" Felicity said. A flashing red dot appeared on the map that was open on her screen. "Got him."

"Address?" Diggle called over his shoulder as he ran up the stairs, gun in his hand.

Felicity called the answer after him. She slumped in her seat, sending out a silent prayer that they wouldn't be too late.

The sound of her phone ringing broke her out of her thoughts. Tommy's name flashed across the screen. She sighed heavily before answering.

"Hello?"

"You're avoiding me, Smoak," Tommy accused teasingly.

"What? No?" Felicity denied nervously.

"Felicity, you told me to call you. You promised that you would tell me everything. I've tried to call you three times, and I've been sent to your voicemail each time," Tommy said, the teasing note dropped from his voice. "I've avoided enough girls to know what that means, though this would be the first time that I've ever been on the receiving end of the avoidance."

Felicity sighed, knowing that she couldn't put off this discussion any longer. "Can you come by the foundry?" she asked. "I need to tell you something and I think it'll be better if I told you in person, face to face. I need to go to QC for a little, but maybe in an hour?"

"Okay," Tommy agreed before disconnecting the call.

—

Tommy stood by the bar in Verdant, fiddling with his phone as he prepared himself to make his way to the basement to meet Felicity. He was nervous, scared of what she would tell him. He knew something was happening, something big, life changing.

"Tommy?"

The sound of Oliver's familiar voice caused him to turn around.

"What are you doing here?" Oliver asked, realizing that this was the first time that Tommy had stepped foot into the club since he had decided to take a break from working there.

"Meeting Felicity," Tommy supplied, ignoring the look of surprise that crossed Oliver's face.

"Hey, did you talk to Laurel last night?" Oliver asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah," Tommy nodded. "She mentioned that you had stopped by. That you 'let her go' or something."

"It was time," Oliver shrugged. "For both our sakes. How… How did it go?"

"Good, really good," Tommy smiled, he looked at Oliver with a hopeful expression on his face. "We talked, I told her that I still have feelings for her and I'd like to try again. But I won't be her second choice or back up plan. It's all or nothing. I can't be the one just warming her bed until someone else comes along. She agreed. So, we're trying, taking it slow, but it's something."

Oliver nodded. "I'm happy for you."

"Thanks," Tommy rubbed the back of his neck. "Anyway, I should go see Felicity."

"Why… What are you seeing her about?" Oliver tried to ask casually. Tommy fought a smile, wondering if there was a touch of jealousy that he could hear in Oliver's tone.

"Remember when I ran into you at my father's office the other day? You said that you were looking for me, that Felicity had mentioned that I would be there?" Tommy prompted. "Well, imagine my surprise when I ran into her on the elevator, wearing a Big Belly uniform."

Oliver shifted uncomfortably, avoiding Tommy's eye.

"So, unless she's taken on a second job, or third really, if you include the work she does for you here, I figured something was up. I tried to get it out of her there, but she wouldn't, but she promised me that she'd fill me in," Tommy admitted. "She's been dodging my calls, but I finally got a hold of her and she told me to meet her here."

"About that," Oliver scratched his chin. "Maybe, I should be the one to tell you."

"You're willing to tell me?" Tommy asked in disbelief. "Really? You, Mr. Secret Vigilante?"

"Something's happening and it involves your father?" Oliver explained. "Our fathers. They aren't the men we thought they were. They made a plan together, to destroy the Glades."

"What?" Tommy asked. "Are you insane? That's crazy. My father might be a lot of things, but…"

"Your father's gonna do it," Oliver interrupted. "Because he thinks it will avenge your mother's death."

Tommy scoffed, shaking his head, he took a few steps back from Oliver.

"The difference between us, Tommy," Oliver continued. "Is that I didn't find out the truth about my father until it was too late. But you've always known, deep down, you've always known what type of man he is."

Tommy continued to shake his head, a disbelieving laugh escaped his lips. "I don't believe you. Do you know how crazy you sound?"

"It's true, Tommy," Oliver tried to convince him.

Tommy moved away, walking quickly and unsteadily as he stumbled towards the door that led down to the foundry.

"Felicity?" he called as he raced down the stairs, gripping the railing tightly so he wouldn't fall.

"Tommy?" she answered, moving from her seat in front of her computers. She stood in front of him.

"Oliver just… he tried…" Tommy stuttered, he felt out of breath.

Felicity tilted her head, a look of concern on her face as she watched Tommy stumble over his words.

"He thinks my father is involved in some sort of evil plan. That he wants to destroy the Glades. But that's insane, right? Felicity tell me it's crazy, tell me that Oliver is wrong, that…" he trailed off, taking in the sympathetic look on Felicity's face.

"Tommy…" she reached towards him.

"No," Tommy jerked back, shaking his head. "No, my father might not exactly be father of the year, he's made mistakes. But he wouldn't… He couldn't. He's not a murderer."

"I'm so sorry, Tommy," Felicity said sadly, tears stung her eyes as she watched him try to deny the truth. "It's all on his computer."

"You hacked him?" Tommy asked in disbelief. "You could go to jail for that-"

"He has a device that will create a manmade earthquake," Felicity continued overtop of him, trying to explain. "Oliver's parents were involved too, but Robert wanted out and your father sabotaged the boat. He killed him."

"No! They're friends, old friends. My father was devastated when the boat went down. He didn't have anything to do with it."

"I'm sorry, Tommy," Felicity repeated. "I can show you, I'm still going through the files."

"He's being framed," Tommy tried to come up with an excuse. "He has to be. Someone is trying to frame him."

Felicity shook her head sympathetically. "Tommy -"

"No!" Tommy raised his voice, causing Felicity to jump slightly. "I'll ask him. Right now, you'll see… You're wrong. You and Oliver, you're wrong."

"Be careful, Tommy," she called to his retreating back as he ran up the stairs.

Tommy leaned heavily on the bar cart in his father's office, pouring himself a strong drink as he waited for his father. He tried to push away the feeling that was settling in his stomach. Oliver and Felicity were wrong. They had to be. His father might not have been the best example of a good father while he was growing up, but he wasn't a murderer. Right?

He's not a murderer, Tommy repeated the phrase, over and over in his mind, hoping that if he said it to himself enough times, he would be able to convince himself that it was true.

"Tommy."

He turned at the sound of his father's voice. He tried to look at his father, tried to see him as the man he had seen growing up, but all he could hear was Oliver and Felicity's accusations, their whispers in the back of his mind.

"Oliver said you wanted to nuke the Glades or something," Tommy attempted to say the accusation lightly. "It's funny, scotch doesn't make it any more believable."

"It's true, Tommy," Malcolm admitted. He said it so casually, it was as if he were speaking about the weather. Tommy chocked on his drink. "It's the reason I closed your mother's clinic. I didn't want to see it levelled."

"What?" Tommy gasped in disbelief.

"I have something I'd like you to listen to." Malcolm walked over to his desk. "The night your mother died, she called me. I awoke to a voicemail from her."

"Dad?" Tommy watched helplessly as his father turned on a recording device.

"Her final gift to me," Malcolm spoke dramatically as a recording began to play.

"Malcolm?" Tommy gasped, feeling weak in the knees at the sound of his mother's voice. It had been years since he had heard the familiar, comforting sound, he had almost forgotten it. But now, on the recording, he could hear the pain in her voice as she gasped out her final words. "I'm in trouble. I told him, I told him to take everything, my money, my ring."

"Turn it off," Tommy begged, tears stinging his eyes.

"He shot me," the recording continued. Echoing throughout the silent room, ringing in Tommy's ears. "I screamed for help…"

"But no one would come," Malcolm spoke along with the recording.

"Malcolm, I don't want to die alone," the voice of his mother choked out. He could hear the sound of tears in her voice.

"She bled out on the pavement, while people passed and did nothing," Malcolm recounted, the recording finished. "Your mother built her clinic in the Glades because she wanted to save this city. It can't be saved. Because the people there don't want it to be saved."

"So you kill them?" Tommy asked aghast, he could still hear his mother's voice, echoing in his ears.

"Yes! They deserve to die, all of them! The way she died!" Malcolm screamed, his face flushed red with anger.

"So you built a machine that will cause an earthquake," Tommy filled in. "To destroy half the city, for revenge?"

"Yes," Malcolm replied, anger still colouring his tone. "It's the only way."

Tommy turned away from his father. He ran his hands over his face, they shook as he lowered them to his sides. He clenched them tightly into fists, his nails dug into his palms. His mind was racing as he tried to process his father's reasoning behind his murderous plan.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw a message from Felicity, flashing on the screen.

Turn on the news.

He grabbed the remote, turning the TV on. The familiar face of Moira Queen covered the screen.

"… For the past five years, under the threat of my life and the lives of my family, I have been complicit in an undertaking with one horrible purpose. To destroy the Glades and everyone in it.

"I realize now, that my family's safety means nothing if I let this dreadful act occur. But you need to know that the architect of this nightmare is Malcolm Merlyn." Tommy looked at his father, who screamed in outrage. "Yes, and I have proof that he has killed dozens in pursuit of this madness. Adam Hunt, Frank Chen, and my husband, Robert.

"Please, if you live in the Glades, you need to get out now. Your lives and the lives of your children depend on it."

Tommy watched, frozen in shock, as Moira walked away from the podium. The camera tried to follow her, there were flashes from cameras, and he could hear the jumbled sounds of reporters calling out questions, yelling as they tried to be heard over one another. The screen went black.

Tommy turned to face his father, he was barely breathing, terrified of what his father would do next. He watched as his father walked over to the wall. He opened a panel and pressed a few buttons. Tommy watching as a hidden door opened.

Suddenly, the door to the office swung open, hitting the wall with a loud bang. A number of policemen entered the room, their guns and weapons raised, pointed at his father.

"Freeze! Malcolm Merlyn, you're under arrest," the officers yelled. "Don't move."

Tommy watched in despair as his father calmly advanced towards the police officers, he moved smoothly as he attacked and disarmed each of them. A shocked yell escaped his lips as he watched his father kill each officer, one by one, coldly, without emotion. Tommy reached over, grabbing one of the discarded guns.

"Dad, no," he yelled, pointing the gun at his father, his arms were shaking, his father took a step towards him. "Please Dad. Stay back. I don't want to hurt you."

"You can't and you can't stop me," Malcolm promised, his voice devoid of emotion. Tommy felt a sharp pain across his face before everything went black.

"Oh, he'll kill you, Oliver," Diggle said seriously. He was struggling to believe that Oliver was preparing to take on Malcolm Merlyn alone.

"I know," Oliver admitted in defeat. "He's beaten me twice and I don't know how to stop him."

"Okay. Well, how about this time you bring along something you didn't have last time you fought: Me," Diggle offered.

"I can't let you," Oliver shook his head.

"And I can't let you do this by yourself, man. Oliver, you are not alone, not since you brought me into this," he looked behind, nodding at Felicity. "Us into this."

Oliver looked past his teammate's broad shoulder, making eye contact with the blonde IT girl. She struggled to smile reassuringly at him but was weighed down by the severity of the situation they faced.

"Besides, Army Regulations: a soldier never lets a brother go into battle alone," Diggle continued. He held out his hand for Oliver to shake.

Oliver regarded him for a moment before reaching out, accepting Diggle's offered hand. "I'm out of bows."

"I've got my gun," Diggle compromised.

"I guess it's up to me to do the dismantling," Felicity said lightly, despite the fear she was feeling.

"This whole place is Ground Zero," Oliver said seriously. "I want you out of here."

"If you're not leaving, I'm not leaving," Felicity argued, she stepped towards Oliver, not taking her eyes off of him. "Besides, if I don't deactivate the device, who will?"

He tried not to smile at Felicity's stubbornness, then an idea came to him. He pulled out his phone, dialled a number and held the device to his ear. "I need one more thing from you," he said to the person on the other end. "I know where Merlyn's keeping the device. It's in an abandoned subway station near Pap street."

He was silent as the other person responded. "That's where his wife was murdered. I need someone I can trust to deactivate the device. We have a mutual friend that I think could talk you through it," he looked at Felicity as he spoke.

"Right now, Detective, it needs you," Oliver hung up, not waiting for a response.

"So, what's the plan?" Felicity asked nervously.

Oliver moved quickly around the lair, gathering supplies. "Digg, you and I will head to Merlyn Global, we need to find Merlyn," Oliver instructed. "Felicity, you stay here, call Lance, direct him to the device and talk him through disarming it."

Felicity watched fearfully as her teammates and friends walked towards the door. "Oliver?" she called after him, causing him to turn back to face her. "Be careful."

Oliver stared into her eyes, not speaking for a moment. Finally he nodded, he walked back over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "You be careful too. If, for whatever reason, if it looks like you won't be able to stop the machine, promise me that you'll run. You'll get out and as far away from here as possible. I need… I need you to be safe."

Felicity's stomach fluttered nervously. "We'll stop it," she tried to sound confident, but she couldn't keep her voice from shaking.

"I mean it, Felicity," Oliver spoke through gritted teeth. "Promise me."

She nodded, maintaining eye contact. "I promise," she whispered shakily.

Oliver turned back and followed Diggle up the stairs, leaving Felicity alone in the lair.

She turned back to her computers, releasing the shaky breath she had been holding. She blinked away the tears that stung the corners of her eyes. She placed the bluetooth communication device in her ear, dialling Detective Lance's number.

"Detective Lance," she greeted, pulling up the schematics of the earthquake device. "A friend told me that you might be in need of my technical skills.

Oliver led Diggle through the dark and eerily silent offices of Merlyn Global. Searching for Malcolm. Felicity had traced his phone earlier, which had shown the building to be his last location. He heard a faint groan coming from his left. He turned in the direction, on alert, as he made his way closer to the source. He could see a body, slumped on the floor, they were shifting as they woke up.

"Tommy?" he called, recognizing his friend's form. "Tommy."

"Oliver," Tommy replied, his voice was rough from being unconscious.

"Where's your father?" Oliver asked urgently.

"I don't know," Tommy mumbled. "You were right. You were right about him."

"Oliver?" Diggle called from another part of the room.

"Are you going to kill him?" Tommy asked anxiously.

"Get to safety," Oliver ordered, avoiding Tommy's question, not wanting to see what his friend's reaction would be if he knew the truth, if he knew what Oliver had to do.

Tommy watched as Oliver followed Diggle into the secret room that his father had opened earlier.

Get to safety.

Oliver's words repeated in his head as he ran from the room. He pulled out his phone from his pocket. The screen showed a number of missed calls, most from Felicity. He tapped her name, holding the phone to his ear has he ran.

"Tommy," she breathed in relief when she answered.

"Felicity, are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied. He could hear the clacking sound of her typing on her keyboard. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm on the other line with Detective Lance… He's with the device. We found it, it's at the old subway station close to where your mother was…"

"What?" Tommy gasped, feeling an overwhelming burst of concern for Laurel's father. Though the man had never approved of him while he and Laurel were together, he had a great deal of respect for the older man.

"Yeah, we needed someone to deactivate the device while Oliver went after Mal… your father," Felicity trailed off.

"My father," Tommy echoed in a quiet voice, still in shock over learning what his father had planned.

"I'm so sorry," Felicity whispered.

"Yeah…" Tommy muttered. "Wait, if Lance is with the device and Oliver is tracking my father down, then where… Felicity?"

"Yeah," she mumbled in a distracted tone. "Just a second, Tommy."

The line went silent as Felicity muted it on her end. A feeling of dread and worry filled his stomach as he waited to hear her voice again.

"Okay, I'm back," Felicity's voice filled his ear.

"Where are you?" Tommy asked, hoping that her reply would be that she was safe, curled up on her couch at home. Hoping that the feeling in his gut, the feeling that said she was in the foundry, in the middle of the Glades, was wrong.

"I'm in the foundry," Felicity admitted, confirming his fears.

"What? Why?" Tommy yelled. He exited the building, looking around. He could hear sirens in the distance, the streets were gridlocked with cars as people tried to escape the danger that threatened the city. "What are you doing? You know what's happening. How could Oliver let you stay? You're in the middle of it all."

"I know, Tommy," Felicity raised her voice, but Tommy could still hear the fear in it. "You don't have to tell me like I don't know. But I have to do this, and if… when we get through this, when we win, then there's nothing to worry about. We'll all be fine."

Tommy breathed in deeply, trying to calm his nerves. "You're right," he agreed, knowing that despite his worries, Felicity was only person in the city that could stop his father's device. "Stay safe."

"You too," Felicity muttered, disconnecting the call.

Tommy stared at his phone for a few seconds before walking quickly to the spot he had left his car.

He sat in the seat, unsure of where he could go. His house, his father's house was out of the question. Felicity's was an option, but he knew if he went there, he'd just wait around, worrying about Felicity. And Laurel, he had no idea where she was or if she was safe…

Laurel.

He picked up his phone, dialling her number and listened to it ring.

"This is Laurel Lance. I'm unable to answer, but please, leave a message or try me at the CNRI offices…"

Tommy hung up, not listening to the rest or leave a message. He knew where Laurel was, knew there was no way she would run from the danger that plagued the city. He started his car, desperate to find her, to make sure that she was safe. He hoped he would reach her, before it was too late.

"Oliver, Lance did it," Felicity's voice crackled through the earpiece that had miraculously stayed in its place during his fight with Merlyn.

"Felicity, there's another device," Oliver replied, his tone filled with despair. "There's two of them."

"What?" Felicity gasped, she fumbled with her phone, frantically calling Tommy, as the world around her began to shake.

"I turned the damn thing off," Lance growled in her ear.

"Merlyn had a second device," she choked out.

"Laurel," Lance gasped. "She's at CNRI."

Felicity gasped, holding her phone to her other ear as she waited for Tommy to answer. The building shook and dust fell from the ceiling. Felicity squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore the fear that filled her body.

"Felicity?" Tommy yelled in greeting. "What's happening?"

"Your father… There were two devices," she gasped out, tears pouring down her cheeks. "We stopped the one, but there was a second. We didn't know."

"Are you okay?" he demanded.

She nodded shakily, forgetting that he couldn't see her and not entirely trusting her voice.

"Felicity?" he repeated her name frantically.

"Yeah?" she muttered. "The damage seems to mostly be on the east side. But Tommy… Lance said that Laurel was at CNRI, which is…"

"On the east side," Tommy finished. "Laurel… I have to…"

"Tommy, be careful," Felicity ordered as he hung up.

"Oliver?" Felicity called. The ground shook with aftershocks.

"Are you okay?" Oliver replied.

"Yeah," she choked out, tears still slipping down her cheeks. "The damage seems to be contained on the east side, past Wells Street."

"Laurel," Oliver gasped. Despite the conversation he had had with his ex-girlfriend the night before, he still worried for her safety.

"Tommy was headed to her," Felicity supplied.

She could hear Oliver talking to Diggle before the comms cut off.

—

"Please, someone help me!"

Tommy pushed himself faster, climbing over the crumbling pieces of the building, hearing Laurel's cry. He finally found her, trapped beneath rubble from the building.

"Tommy," she gasped as he climbed to her side, he tried to lift the piece of cement that trapped her. "What are you doing here?"

"I kind of figured you might come back to CNRI," he grunted, still trying to move the debris that covered half her body.

"You came here for me?" she asked, tears pouring down her cheeks.

"I love you," Tommy replied. He lifted the wreckage up, high enough for Laurel to escape. "Get up! Go, go, I'm right behind you."

He watched as Laurel climbed to her feet and ran from the building. He sighed in relief, dropping the rubble and moved to follow her. He felt something crash into him as the world around him exploded and everything went black.

"Tommy? Tommy?"

Tommy groaned, his head felt heavy as he fought his way back to consciousness.

"Tommy, open your eyes," the voice commanded.

He tried to blink, but his lids were heavy as he squinted into the bright light. A dark shape crouched in front of him.

"Tommy." he was finally able to recognize the familiar voice that called to him.

"'liver. Oliver?" he replied.

"Tommy," Oliver sighed in relief. "You're gonna be fine."

"I may have to disagree with you," Tommy groaned, he tried to sit up. "I feel like I got run over by a bus."

Oliver chuckled slightly. "Not a bus, a building," he explained. "I got here just as the building was collapsing, the floor above was caving. I pushed you out of the way." He gestured a few feet away where Tommy could make out a few sharp looking metal bars, in the exact place he had been moments before.

"Good job," Tommy whispered, trying to stand.

Oliver nodded as he helped Tommy climb to his feet, putting most of his weight on Oliver.

"Laurel," Tommy gasped, remembering his reason for being in the crumbling building. "Is Laurel safe?"

"Yeah," Oliver replied. "You saved her."

"And Felicity?" Tommy asked.

"She's fine, a little shaken up, I think," Oliver filled in. The two friends carefully made their way out of the remains of the CNRI building into a darkened alley.

"I'm sorry," Tommy muttered, moving away from Oliver.

"What are you apologizing for?" Oliver asked in confusion.

"I was angry," he replied. "When I found out who you were, what you had done, but I understand it now. You were keeping the city safe, from… Did you kill him? My father?"

Oliver froze, then nodded solemnly. "Yes, I'm sorry. I had to… It was the…"

"It had to be done. Maybe he deserved it," Tommy admitted. "You should probably get out of here."

Tommy gestured to Oliver, who was still wearing his green leathers, though they were looking a little worse for the wear. The hood was down, easily showing who hid beneath it, despite the grease paint that was smeared over his eyes. "Wouldn't want the whole city finding out your secret."

"Right," Oliver agreed. "Are you going to be all right?"

Tommy shrugged, a bitter laugh escaped his lips. "My father was just outed as being a criminal mastermind and I almost had an entire building fall on top of me. I don't think 'all right' are words that I'll be using for a while."

Oliver nodded. "I know the feeling," he related. "You should go get checked out at the hospital, just in case."

Tommy watched as his friend limped away. He looked around, taking in the destruction of the city around him. The air was filled with smoke and the sounds of sirens and voices screaming. Half of the Glades had been destroyed and as Tommy stumbled out of the alley, he wondered if the city would ever recover from the destruction that had been caused by his father.


End file.
